


Little Things

by katie_049



Series: Little Things [5]
Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post 9x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28415142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katie_049/pseuds/katie_049
Summary: Matt finds the courage to finally woo Sylvie. - A series of litte things Matt does to win Sylvie's heart.PLEASE read the AUTHOR'S NOTES for any warnings in the new chapter. Thank you :)
Relationships: Stella Kidd/Kelly Severide, Sylvie Brett/Matthew Casey
Series: Little Things [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023634
Comments: 163
Kudos: 223





	1. Cigar Chats and Sandwiches

**Author's Note:**

> And we're finally at the main part of this story. It took a little while, but I'm so happy. I've got some ideas, but I probably won't be able to write all of them before the show comes back next week. We'll see how far we'll make it. The next one is coming either on New Year's Eve or on New Years, depending on how fast I can write it :)
> 
> Just one short thing about this one: I don't know a thing about cigars. Nada. So, be nice on that front. I've also overused the word cigar here, but well. It's a cigar chat? 
> 
> On a different note, thank you for all the support this year! I love this fandom as it's so kind and brings me so much joy! I love you guys ♥♥

One might think that the holidays would make people a bit more careful in general, but they didn’t. No matter how many fire safety slogans the CFD released each year about not leaving candles burning unattended or regularly checking the holiday lights for breaks in the isolation before hanging them, people still didn’t seem to listen.

Even with the pandemic and most people staying at home, they had still gotten quite a few calls for house fires that either started with a Christmas tree or a fallen candle. All of Matt’s hopes of having some quiet days at the end of the year had gone out of the window as he had gotten to the station this morning. His stack of paperwork had miraculously grown over the last two days, but before he had been able to sit down to get a start on it, they had gotten called out to a house fire.

It hadn’t been the best way to start the day, but their call had been uneventful, and they had been back at the station within two hours. That also meant he had been back at his desk by then, finally starting on the stack of papers. Trying to block out the number of reports and furlough requests he had to go through, he had dug right in.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed as he was too engrossed in getting through those papers, but when he heard a familiar laughter sound through the bunkroom, he lifted his head.

Matt could pick out her laughter from a million others as it was his favorite sound. It made him feel warm and fuzzy, and he hadn’t heard it nearly enough these past few weeks. Putting his pen on the table, he turned in his seat to spy out of his open door.

Sylvie was sitting on her bunk bed with her back to him and her phone held up in front of her face. He could vaguely make out Scott and Amelia on the screen, and Sylvie’s high-pitched cooing confirmed it. It was good to know that Sylvie kept in contact with them, especially because she rarely saw them in person.

Even if Matt wasn’t able to see her face, he was sure that Sylvie was making faces at her little sister as Sylvie was laughing herself every few seconds. His lips tugged upwards at seeing her so happy, and he couldn’t find it in him to tear his gaze away from her. Instead, he shifted in his seat to sit more comfortably in his chair, his arm resting on the back of it.

“Are we back to that look again?” Severide’s voice sounded up as he appeared in his doorway, blocking Matt’s view of Sylvie.

Blinking a couple of times, Matt wrinkled his forehead as he looked up to his friend. Raising an eyebrow, he grumbled, “What look?”

“You know which one I’m talking about,” his friend answered, nodding his head in Sylvie’s direction. “You know it’s creepy to stare.” His best friend was spotting a saucy grin that told Matt he was out to tease him.

“I wasn’t staring,” he deflected, leveling his friend with a pointed look. That was a lie. Of course, he was staring. It was Sylvie. He could stare at her all day long.

“I was gonna ask you if you wanted one of these,” Severide told him, holding up two cigars. “But that offer comes with a no-nonsense policy.”

“Are those Padrons?”

His friend nodded, mustering him intently.

“Then I can agree to that policy.” He’d be dumb to pass up on that opportunity. It was his favorite brand, and the two firefighters usually saved them for special occasions.

Matt stood up and grabbed his jacket that was hanging over the back of his chair. Shrugging it on, he stepped towards Severide, glancing past him to Sylvie one more time. She was still talking to Scott and Amelia, laughing along with their conversation. The sight of her filled him with warmth, and the corners of his lips tugged upwards once more.

Severide flicked his finger against his upper arm, and when Matt switched his gaze back to him, the lieutenant stared at him with raised eyebrows, his pointer that had just flicked him, held up towards him. “No nonsense.”

Annoyed, Matt huffed, shoving his friend down the hall and towards the door that led to the small outside area behind the station. He didn’t want to disturb Sylvie’s call, and if Severide would have talked any louder, she would have for sure heard them. It would have also meant she would have caught him staring, and that didn’t need to happen.

A few minutes later, the two men were sitting outside on a bench away from prying eyes and ears. It was freezing, and Matt knew they would both be cold by the time they made it back inside. Not even the cigar would warm them up during this time of the year. 

“You wanna talk about that look now?” Severide questioned him for a second time as he lit up his cigar, taking a few short puffs from it.

“Depends on what you wanna know,” Matt shrugged. He took the box of matches from his friend, placing his cigar in his mouth before lighting a match and holding it to the end of his cigar. 

“Well, Stella is less angry with you. I feel like she knows more than I do these days,” Severide pointed out, a small smile grazing his lips at the mention of his girlfriend.

“She helped me choose a Christmas gift for Sylvie,” Matt explained, placing the box of matches next to him on the bench once he had lit his cigar. “Are you jealous about your girlfriend knowing more than you?”

Severide chuckled, shaking his head. “No, whatever floats your boat, man. So, are you back on talking terms with Brett?”

Glancing over to his friend, Matt bit the inside of his cheek. “I think we’re getting there.” He paused for a moment, moving his gaze back to the cigar in his hands and taking a deep breath. “Things with Reed are over too.” He tried to tone down his excitement about this recent development, but he barely managed. It was selfish of him as it caused Sylvie more pain.

Severide snorted. “Case, you’re my best friend, but sometimes you’re just dumb.”

Matt’s gaze flicked back to his friend. “Consider me offended.”

“Did you ever notice the way Brett looks at you?” The lieutenant asked him, turning his body towards Matt. “No matter how hard Reed would have tried, she would have never looked at him the same way she looks at you. And trust me, he tried. I heard all about it.”

His heart hammered against his chest at his friend’s words, and Matt felt his hands clench. Raising the cigar to his mouth, he took a long puff from it, letting the earthy taste of the smoke calm his racing mind.

He didn’t want to know what Reed had tried or done with Sylvie. It would just feed into his jealous streak, and he was done with that. Sylvie and Reed were done anyway, so there was no reason for it anymore. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about the reason why they stopped seeing each other. The selfish part of him wished that he might have played a role in it, but he always pushed this thought away as soon as it crossed his mind. It made him feel awful. His best friend bringing it up certainly didn’t help.

“Look, all I’m saying is that Brett never stops giving out chances. She isn’t someone who just gives up, and even if it looks like she hit the brakes on you two, I don’t think she has completely let go of the idea,” Kelly concluded, lifting his cigar to his mouth. “But if you don’t do something soon, she will move on for good. Just staring longingly at her like some love-struck idiot isn’t gonna change anything.”

“I know,” Matt sighed, turning his cigar between his fingers. “I’m not gonna screw it up again. I’m gonna earn back her trust and show her how important she is to me. She deserves someone who will fight for her.”

“Sounds like you’ve made some headway,” his friend noted, taking another puff.

“I started talking to Chaplain Sanders,” Matt confessed, hunching forward in his seat to rest his arms on his thighs. “After spending the better part of the last month angry at myself, I figured it was time to get help.”

“How’s that going?” Severide asked without a hint of judgment in his voice.

Huffing, Matt sat up straight again, throwing his best friend a look. “How do you think it’s going? I’m not someone who particularly enjoys talking about his feelings.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Severide tilted his head to the side. “Still seems to work though.”

Nodding his head slowly, Matt grabbed his cigar with his other hand. “It is. It’s not pleasant, but it’s making me realize that Sylvie means more to me than I can put into words.” He paused, taking a small breath. “It also made me realize that Gabby and I were over before she even left for Puerto Rico. I loved her deeply, but we weren’t on the same page anymore. It’s nothing I can or could have fixed.”

“And you got all that from talking to the Chaplain just once?” Severide asked amused, hitting him on the shoulder. “Why don’t you ever listen to me like that?”

Matt chuckled, pushing his hand away forcefully. “I’ve talked to him a couple of times, and I don’t think I’m ready to stop just yet. He’s a good listener, and I guess it helped to have an outsider’s perspective.”

Feeling lighter than before, Matt took a long puff from his cigar. It felt good to get this off his chest. It wasn’t something he could tell Sylvie quite yet because there were still a few things he needed to work through, but it was a start. And telling Severide made it just a bit more real. He was getting back on track, and it felt good.

“Enough about me though,” Matt diverted as he puffed out some smoke. “Why are we smoking the good cigars?”

His friend kept quiet for a minute, staring into the distance before a small smile spread over his face. One that Matt hadn’t seen before. It radiated happiness and determination.

“I’m gonna ask Stella to marry me.”

A grin appeared on Matt’s face, and he lifted his arm to grab his friend by the neck, shaking him gently. “About damn time. Congratulations, man.”

Severide chuckled, the smile on his face widening. “I’m gonna ask her after she takes the lieutenant’s test. It gives me a couple of weeks to figure it all out.”

“Well, if you need help with anything, just let me know. You can count on me,” Matt promised him with another pat on the shoulder.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Case.”

Those were great news, and Matt was excited for his friend. Kidd was a great woman, and she had proven over and over again that she was the right one for his friend. Her constant support had helped the lieutenant through some tough times, and Matt just knew that it laid the best base for their marriage.

It made the captain just a bit more excited for the new year to come. This last year had been hard on all of them, and things finally seemed to look up. Maybe the new year would finally bring everybody some more happiness.

* * *

It was after four in the afternoon, when Sylvie and Mackey finally made it back to the station. They had just dropped off their fourth patient of the day, and Sylvie was about done with the entire shift. She was hungry, which made her slightly sour mood just a bit worse.

She had facetimed with Amelia and Scott earlier as she hadn’t been able to see them at Christmas, but it had gotten cut short as they had gotten a call. After that, they had gotten another call while they had been on route back to the station, and unfortunately that had made them skip lunch.

Mackey and Sylvie quickly stocked up the ambulance again, before Sylvie made a beeline for the common room. Stella was standing behind the stove and had already started to prepare dinner.

“Stella! Please tell me you have something to eat for me,” Sylvie called out to her friend as she crossed the distance between them. She came to a halt on the opposite side of the counter, looking at her friend expectantly.

“I’m just getting started, Brett,” Kidd answered, lifting her hands. For a second, she looked sorry, but then she started biting her lip, obviously trying to hide a smirk. Her eyes shifted away from her, looking in the direction of the round table to Sylvie’s right.

Confused, she eyed her friend, putting her hands on her hips and letting her gaze follow Stella’s. It landed on Matt who was sitting at the round table which was covered in papers but next to him stood a plate with a sandwich. Matt had turned in his spot, looking at her with a smile on his face.

“I saved you a sandwich,” he told her, nodding towards the plate next to him. He almost looked proud of himself.

“You did?” She asked in surprise, blinking a few times. Her gaze flicked back to Stella for a second. Her friend nodded her head discreetly into Matt’s direction, her eyes wide as she urged her towards the captain.

Shaking her head, Sylvie switched her focus back to Matt, who was still patiently sitting at the table, looking at her. Without thinking about it too much, she walked over to him, sliding into the chair beside him. She was starving, and no matter what kind of sandwich it was, it sounded absolutely great right about now.

“I just figured you might be hungry when you get back, you know?” Matt offered hastily, tapping his pen against the desk repeatedly. “You had back-to-back calls almost all day.”

Pulling the plate closer to her, Sylvie bit her lip as she eyed the sandwich to make out what was on it. “That was very thoughtful of you, Matt. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” he shrugged it off, pointing to the plate. “Dig in. Gallo made them. I think he stole the recipe from Mackey.”

Oh, she loved Mackey’s sandwiches. They were the best. And Matt also loved her sandwiches, and Sylvie knew that it must have been tempting to not eat the one that was standing in front of him since lunch.

Had he been sitting here since lunch, guarding her sandwich? It seemed like a wild idea, but judging from all the papers that were spread around the desk, he must have been. And Matt never did his paperwork in the common room. He preferred to sit in the quiet while he went through his reports. They had talked about that a few months back when Sylvie had escaped to his quarters for some peace and quiet after being hassled by the guys all day long.

Her stomach rumbled, and she quickly pulled her focus back onto the sandwich. She slowly picked it up, but before she took a bite, she found herself looking back at Matt.

He had already turned back to his paperwork, his face concentrated as he scribbled something onto the paper in front of him. He must have felt her gaze on him though as he lifted his head, locking eyes with her.

His blue eyes looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. It was that solemn Matt Casey look that always pulled her in and made her feel like she was the only person in the room. His ability to listen to people and make them feel heard was one of her favorite things about him, and the reminder made her heart skip a beat.

A blush covered her cheeks as she realized that she was staring at him without saying a word, and with a quick smile, she spluttered, “Uhm, I’m just really glad you saved me this sandwich. Thanks again.”

He gave her a lopsided grin, lifting his eyebrows. “You better eat it then, or I might steal it back from you.”

A chuckle escaped her lips, and she scrunched her nose up at him, shaking her head. “Not a chance.”

She quickly took a bite of the sandwich in her hands, and the sides of Matt’s mouth quirked up at her as he eyed her for a beat longer, before he turned back to his paperwork.

As Sylvie ate her sandwich, she couldn’t help but glance at Matt every so often. He just sat quietly next to her, working on signing off case reports. This moment between them felt like the most natural thing, almost as if it had happened a million times already. They were just sitting together with him working and her eating her sandwich.

It was nice and comfortable, and those were two welcoming feelings for her when it came to Matt. A lot had happened in the last few months, and maybe they had finally gone through the worst of it. Maybe they were finally on the other side, and no matter where it led them, Sylvie was glad that Matt wasn’t another person she had lost from her life.

A weight was lifted off her shoulders, and suddenly she found herself excited for the new year.


	2. Charades and Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit late, but we have to blame that on my mother and her obsession with Bridgerton. When I got there on New Year's Eve, she was already on episode 4 so I couldn't just join in on watching it. So the entire time I was there, I had to keep her from turning it on, so I would get spoiled. Anyway, that left me with not a lot of time to write.  
> Now that I have written this part, I will probably also finally get to watch Bridgerton too. 
> 
> Better late than never, here comes my Happy New Years to you :)

Each year, there were a few shifts that nobody wanted to work, and the New Year’s Eve shift was one of them. It was almost as bad as the shift on the 4 th of July, and since first shift had covered that one this year, it was second shift who had to cover New Year’s Eve. However, conversely it meant that they would get both shifts off next year, and that sounded promising.

With the pandemic still wreaking havoc on the entire world, all the New Year’s parties had been canceled anyhow, and Sylvie would have probably just stayed home this year. Last year, she had celebrated with Emily, but she was on shift too, and they hadn’t seen each other in person ever since her friend had started working in the COVID ward.

Therefore, ringing in the new year with her 51 family didn’t sound half as bad. They were her friends too, and spending time with them was always nice. Even if it had been hard to plan anything for the evening as they never knew when they would get called out, they had still agreed to have at least a dinner together and maybe try to do a game night.

And while Sylvie rarely cooked, she had volunteered to make an exception for New Year’s Eve. She knew she was a fairly decent cook, and her friends loved everything she made for them. So, today she had decided to make a cheesy beef and sweet potato casserole, which wasn’t necessarily a traditional New Year’s Eve dish, but it was easy to make and if they’d get called out, it would be easy to reheat too.

Sylvie had just finished layering the dish when Matt appeared next to her at the stove. He was spotting a warm smile, leaning with his back against the counter casually.

“I was gonna ask if you need any help, but I guess I’m a little too late for that,” he greeted her, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his dark-blue work pants.

Her lips tugged upwards at his thoughtfulness, and she glanced up to him briefly from where she was grating the cheese over the casserole. “It’s fine. I volunteered to cook tonight, and when nobody expects me to have the food ready, I actually enjoy cooking. Besides, this is super easy to make.”

“Doesn’t make cooking for 16 people any less strenuous. It’s a lot of food,” Matt pointed out, nodding to the four casserole dishes in front of her.

Lowering the cheese and the grater to the counter, Sylvie turned her attention fully to him. She pursed her lips, eyeing him with amusement. “Well, if you’re looking for something to do, then maybe you could set the table?”

The smile that spotted Matt’s face was too bright for her simple request. Nobody enjoyed setting the table. It was such a mundane task that required a lot of walking back and forth, let alone the endless battle of moving the chairs out of the way to get to the table. It was something Sylvie didn’t particularly enjoy doing, but Matt seemed to have no issue with it. In fact, he almost seemed delighted to have a task.

“I can do that. Are forks and knives enough?” He asked as he pushed himself off the counter to open the drawers with the cutlery.

“Yes, that’s fine. Thanks, Matt.” She mustered him for a second longer, watching as he pulled the cutlery from the drawer.

He looked different.

Right before Christmas, he had gotten a haircut, reverting back to his previous hairstyle. It had taken away the boyish charm that the long hair had given him, something that Sylvie had secretly liked. But even though he now wore the exact same haircut as before, it had given him something else. Something new. Instead of making him look older and more serious again, he looked fresher and more at ease, almost lighter.

In general, he was just more relaxed and present again. He was a private person by nature, usually sticking to his quarters for most of the shift, but now he often sat in the common room with them whenever he was done with his paperwork. It was another thing that was different about him, but it was something Sylvie liked.

Rationally, she knew that his haircut hadn’t anything to do with his brighter mood. It had to do with what he confessed to her last week when he had given her his Christmas present. He was talking to Chaplain Sanders, and while she didn’t know anything more about it, she knew it helped him. It was more than obvious.

Biting her lip, her eyes followed him as he walked towards the table, shooing Joe and Capp away. With a loud clattering, he lowered the cutlery to the table before he made his way back over to her. She quickly tore her gaze away from him, picking up the grater and the cheese once more. He didn’t need to catch her staring.

“Do I need to set anything other than plates?” Matt asked as he opened one of the cupboards behind her.

“Uhm, maybe some bowls? I made some dessert too,” she told him, forcing herself to not turn back to him. It was hard enough to keep her feelings for him at bay, and now that he was seeking her out more, it just got harder. Especially if he was being this attentive and helpful.

“You really shouldn’t have, Sylvie,” he threw back to her as he pulled out plates and bowls from the cupboard. “You’re setting the bar too high for the person who has to cook next shift.”

“It’s New Year’s Eve. I think we all deserve a little something extra after the year we had,” she huffed as she grated a healthy portion of cheese onto the dish. “Besides, it gets me out of cooking for you guys for at least a couple of weeks.”

“See, that’s where you're wrong,” Matt countered, appearing next to her with a smirk on his face. “The guys will complain and pester you for the next few weeks until you cook again because they will love what you made for us.”

She raised her eyebrows, stopping her grating again. “They can try. I can be adamant when it comes to certain things. And people trying to force me to cook for them is one of those things.”

Matt chuckled, shaking his head. He opened his mouth to reply, but the bells went off in the next second.

_ Ambulance 61. Person injured. 1138 W Taylor Street. _

“Dang it. They couldn’t have waited for a few more minutes,” Sylvie scoffed, placing the cheese and the grater onto the table before reaching for a towel to clean her hands.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” Matt assured her, nodding towards the dishes. “It’ll be ready by the time you get back.”

Throwing the towel onto the steel counter, Sylvie met Matt’s eyes. He was smiling at her, blinking at her softly with that look that always told her she wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. And it always got her. Today wasn’t any different.

“Thank you, Matt,” she told him as she rounded the counter, walking backward to the exit of the common room. “Get Stella to set the table. She knows where I stashed all the decorations.” Her back hit the doors, but before she pushed them open, she remembered one more thing, “Keep an eye on the casseroles. If the cheese gets too dark, cover them.”

“I got this, Brett. Stop worrying. I’m not gonna burn your food,” Matt yelled back to her, throwing her a pointed look.

Her last name put her back into work mode, and she pushed through the doors, making a beeline for the ambulance.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Sylvie and Mackey made it back to the station. Their patient had been a bit uncooperative, delaying them at the scene, and together with the paperwork, it had taken quite a while.

By the time the two of them walked back into the common room, it smelled heavenly, and all their friends had gathered around the long table. All her decorations had been put up too, making the grey common room look a bit more colorful and festive.

“Finally! Can we eat now? I’m starving,” Capp exclaimed, lifting his arms in annoyance from his seat close to the door. His comment sounded a bit offensive, but the wink he sent her told her it was just a joke.

When Sylvie had entered the room, she had assumed that her colleagues had already eaten, but taking a closer look, she realized that their plates were still clean. It made her feel bad because they had been gone for quite a while, and it was already nearing 8 pm. No wonder Capp was starving.

“You should have started without us, guys. I hope the food’s not cold now,” Sylvie chastised them as she searched the table for an open spot. Mackey had already slipped in beside Gallo, and the only other open spot was beside Matt. Of course, it was. He usually made sure she had a seat right beside him at the table. At least that’s what happened before they had kissed.

“See! I told you she wouldn’t have a problem with it,” Capp pointed out with a huff.

“Capp, shut it,” Severide called out to him from down the table. “That wasn’t the point.”

The lieutenant was sitting opposite of Matt at the other end of the table with Stella sitting next to him. Boden had his usual spot at the head of the table, and when Sylvie met his gaze, he gave her a small nod. It made her hurry towards the empty seat, and just as she slipped into it, Boden got up from his chair.

“Now that we’re all here, I just wanna say thank you for your diligent work this year. It has brought many hardships to us, but I’m proud that we all worked through it together,” Boden addressed them, pulling everyone’s attention towards him. Lifting his glass, the chief nodded into the round. “Let’s hope the new year will treat us better. To family.”

“To family.” Everyone agreed, lifting their glasses to his toast. They all took a sip from their glasses, and while it might not have been anything alcoholic, it still counted as a toast.

In the next few minutes, everyone loaded up their plates, and after eating a few bites, they all started to compliment Sylvie on her cooking. They loved it, and all the praise conjured a smile onto her face that was followed by a deep blush. Compliments still made her feel just a bit uncomfortable. Even if they came from her friends.

“I told you I wouldn’t burn your food,” Matt spoke up from her left side. “You know I can cook too, right?”

Lowering her fork onto her plate, she turned her head towards him. “Even the best cook sometimes forgets a thing or two. A little reminder never hurts.” She pressed her lips together to suppress the smile that started to form on her lips.

“I don’t know if I should feel offended by that.” He quirked up an eyebrow, mustering her intently.

She held his gaze, squeezing her eyes together. “You did a decent job watching my cooking. That’s all I’m gonna say.” She didn’t know what exactly he was gunning for, but she found herself enjoying not giving in to him completely.

Matt’s lips tugged into a lopsided grin, and he eyed her with mischief in his eyes. “Well, I’m glad I could be of service.”

This banter between them was new, and it almost felt like they were flirting. It threw her for a loop, making her pulse race in confusion and excitement.

“He helped me set up the decorations too,” Stella added from across the table. “And then he made us all wait until you guys came back. He even robbed in Gallo to check in with Mackey to find out when you’d leave the hospital.” The smirk that covered her friend’s face was way too big for Sylvie’s liking. She was putting Matt on the spot, and she enjoyed every minute.

Matt, on the other hand, squirmed in his seat, pursing his lips. “I just didn’t want the food to get cold. You put a lot of work into tonight, and I wanted to make sure that it didn’t go to waste.” He shrugged, resting his hand, which was holding his fork, on the table. “Chief would have made them wait too.”

If anyone hated compliments or praise more than she did, it was Matt. He always downplayed it, and it made Sylvie just more determined to do it more often.

“I appreciate you taking over, Matt. It means a lot,” she thanked him, before grabbing her fork again. She was silently fighting the urge to reach out to him and squeeze his arm, or maybe even his knee, but she paced herself. This wasn’t the time or the place.

They were just getting back to normal, and she shouldn’t overstep or misinterpret his actions. He was Matt Casey. He was a thoughtful and honorable guy. He’d do a lot for his friends.

She dug her fork back into her food, taking another bite of it to distract herself, but it didn’t really help. Once her mind started to think about Matt, it hardly ever stopped.

“Hey, Sylvie?” Matt called out to her in a soft voice, and she quickly swallowed down the food in her mouth, before meeting his eyes once again.

“I heard we’re playing charades after dinner, and I was wondering if you wanted to be my, uhm, my…” He stopped, swallowing nervously, before taking a steadying breath. “I thought that maybe we could play together. As a team.” His eyes were wide and hopeful, looking at her openly with his heart wide open.

“Yes.”

Screw this. She was still madly in love with him, and if he looked at her like that, she was putty in his hands. He told her he was working on himself, and she had to believe that it meant something good for them too. He had been trying hard these last couple of days to spend time with her. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

She was still staring into his blue eyes when Cruz bumped his elbow against hers by accident, making her fork clatter to the table. It pulled her away from Matt for a second, while Cruz apologized. It also gave her a second to gather her thoughts.

Charades. She had promised Stella to play charades with her when they discussed the plans for the evening yesterday at Molly’s. She couldn’t just let her friend down, even if she wanted to.

Picking up her fork, she bit her lip, glancing back to Matt. “I would love to, but I was supposed to play with Stella. We—”

“Don’t worry, I’ll play with Ritter,” her friend interrupted her, pulling her attention towards her. The dark-haired woman sent her a not-so-subtle wink from across the table while staring her down forcefully. Stella Kidd was definitely trying to meddle.

A short puff of air left her lips, and Sylvie threw her friend an irritated look, before switching her gaze back to Matt. “Uhm, I guess I’m free after all.”

“Great. That’s great,” Matt beamed at her, the corners of his eyes wrinkling. “It will be fun.”

The brightness of his smile almost knocked her over, and Sylvie sucked in some air to ground herself. She was in deep with Matt, and there was no way of denying it.

* * *

The timing of the single call they had gotten before midnight couldn’t have been worse. They were in the middle of charades when 81 had gotten a solo call to a police assist, and Matt had to suppress an angry and childish scowl that had threatened to leave his throat. The last thing he had wanted to do was leave.

After they had finished their dinner, Gallo, Mackey, Ritter, Kidd, Cruz, and Capp had all agreed to play charades. Together they had quickly rearranged the small sitting area in front of the TV. With the coffee table out of the way, they had enough space to move around freely, and with a few extra chairs, everyone had found a place to sit. Matt had happily taken one of the uncomfortable, hard plastic chairs because it brought him closer to Sylvie, who was sitting in one of the armchairs.

For a second time that day, he had sat next to the blonde paramedic, soaking up her cheerful presence, except this time, he had been the one to make her laugh and smile too.

Soon enough, warmth had radiated through his body and he could particularly feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins whenever Sylvie’s wide smile had been directed at him. Adding to that, they had quickly taken the lead in the game, and he had been reminded of their first game of charades.

Things had been easier back then, but even with the mess he had created between them, Matt still wouldn’t want to change a thing. Yes, it had put them on the outs for a while, but it had also gotten him to address his past, and no matter how hard it was to talk about it, he knew it was going to be worth it in the end.

Sylvie deserved someone who knew what he wanted. Someone who would cherish and love her without conditions. Someone who would always put her first. Matt knew in his bones that he could be that person for her because god knows she was his person.

Every smile he had gotten from her tonight had reinforced his decision to seek help. It had strengthened his will to fight harder for her. To show her how much she meant to him. Dating or even courting a woman was something unfamiliar to him, something he had never needed to do before, but he would figure it out for her or die trying.

Teaming up with Sylvie for charades had been one of the best decisions he had made in a while. No matter what happened between them, they could still read the other like an open book which came in handy for the game. Every time they had scored, Sylvie’s smile grew a bit more, and in turn, his heart had swelled.

When the bells had gone off, calling for 81, Sylvie’s smile had wavered for a fleeting second, but she had quickly glossed it over with a small nod towards him. Her eyes had been full of understanding, and it had made it that much harder to leave. Luckily for him, his body had reacted out of instinct, getting up and moving towards the doors of the common room. With one last smile directed at her, he had left the room, willing his mind to focus on the call.

When they had arrived at the old factory, the scene had already been swamped with police officers. They had needed help to get inside as some teenagers had locked themselves inside the factory to have some fun on New Year's Eve.

It hadn’t been anything too major, and Mouch and Gallo had the door open within a few minutes. Unfortunately for them though, it had taken a while until they could clear the building, and by the time they had loaded up again, it had been twenty minutes to midnight. 

Kidd had done her best to get them back to the station as fast as possible, but they barely made it with five minutes left of the old year.

“Told ya, I would get us back in time,” Kidd exclaimed as she pulled up to the station, slowing down the truck. “I’m gonna park out front though cause I’m not missing my new year’s kiss.”

Matt briefly glanced over to her, shaking his head in amusement. She must have been at least as anxious as he had been over the last few minutes. There was only one way he wanted to ring in this new year, and that was with Sylvie by his side. Maybe he wouldn’t get his new year’s kiss just yet, that would probably push his luck, but he still wanted to be close to her.

“Damn, you killed it, Stella,” Gallo called from the back, patting her on the shoulder as she backed onto the frontcourt of the station. “Oh look, the others are already waiting.”

Turning his head towards the large, red garage doors of the station, he found the rest of their colleagues piled up in front of them. His eyes immediately searched the crowd for Sylvie, and he found her standing next to his best friend. They were talking, and Matt watched as his best friend bumped their shoulders together, painting a shy smile onto her face.

For a second, he wondered what they might be talking about, but then the truck stopped moving and Stella and Gallo whooped loudly. Ignoring his colleagues, Matt opened the door, jumping out of the truck, his eyes never leaving Sylvie.

She was moving around in her spot, taking tiny steps from one foot to the other. Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself, her glove covered hands rubbing over her thick CFD winter jacket.

When he closed his door with a loud bang, her eyes found his, and a small smile covered her face. Even though he was several feet away, he could still see her lips quivering. It was rather mild for December in Chicago, but Matt knew Sylvie was always cold. During the winter months, she was usually running around the station with a mug of tea in her hands, warming herself up between calls.

“Move it guys, you only have two minutes left,” Mackey called out to them, jumping up and down in her spot next to Joe and Sylvie.

His candidate laughed cheerfully, jogging towards the group of people, followed by Mouch and Kidd who stuck to a normal pace.

Hanging back for a second longer, he opened the first compartment of the truck, grabbing the thick woolen blanket from it before he made his way over to his friends, walking directly towards Sylvie.

She had taken a step back from Severide, allowing Kidd to wrap her arms around her boyfriend. The young woman was grinning at his best friend, and Matt knew that she would soon have a totally different reason to smile this bright.

“Look who finally made it. For a second I thought I’d have to ring in the new year with Brett,” Severide called out to him with a smirk on his face. His comment earned him a gentle punch from his girlfriend, which he retaliated with a pinch to her hip.

“I’m not ready to face the wrath of your girlfriend again. I don’t think she would have let me live that one down,” Matt countered as he stepped up behind Sylvie.

Unfolding the blanket halfway, he placed it onto Sylvie’s shoulders. She flinched at first, but when he smoothed his hands down her arms to tug the blanket around her, she relaxed under his touch.

Her hands reached out to grab onto the edges of the blanket, pulling it snug around her. Another long shiver ran through her body, and she took a few tiny steps in her place in front of him, before glancing over her shoulder to catch his eyes. “Thanks, Matt.”

She looked grateful, and for some reason, it made him nervous. Allowing his hands to rub over her arms one more time, he pulled them back, stuffing them into his turnout coat.

“You looked cold,” he replied, biting the inside of his cheek. “And I know you get cold easily, so I thought this might help.” He paused, clearing his throat. “To warm up, you know?”

Why on earth was he justifying his actions? Sylvie wasn’t looking for an explanation. She had been thankful for his gesture, and yet he was standing there, fumbling with his words like some teenaged boy.

Severide snorted next to him, which made Matt briefly glance up to his friend to throw him an angry look. When he moved his gaze back to Sylvie, he found her cheeks had turned a soft shade of pink. She was blushing.

It was incredibly hard to not wrap her up in his arms right that second. She looked adorable, all bundled up in her blanket, her cheeks rosy. It made him fall in love with her just a bit more. When her big blue eyes met his, staring at him with something that he could only describe as hopefulness, he had to ball his hands into fists to not reach out to her.

Instead, he held her gaze, his lips parting on their own accord. He would never tire of looking at her, but their moment was interrupted when Gallo and Mackey started to yell out the countdown next to them.

Sylvie averted her gaze, turning her head back towards the skyline of the city, and Matt had to reel himself back from grabbing his candidate by the neck. That kid had the worst timing in history, and he had a knack for disturbing or ruining these precious moments with Sylvie. Unintentionally, but still.

When Matt stopped his train of thoughts, everyone had joined into the countdown, and the air around them was buzzing with excitement for the new year.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Happy New Year!”

Cheers filled the cold and silent night air around them, but Matt stood frozen in his spot. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Severide and Kidd sharing a deep kiss next to him, one that felt intrusive to watch. He turned his head a little further away from them, but on his other side, Gallo and Mackey were kissing just as enthusiastically. That was something he had missed happening, and he made a mental note to ask Sylvie about it later.

His eyes moved back to Sylvie in front of him, and he tilted his head to the side to get a good look at her face. She was quietly staring straight ahead into the night sky, her expression thoughtful and maybe a bit sad. The last year had been rough for her on many fronts, and that included their relationship.

The urge to wrap her up in his arms flooded him for a second time that day, but instead, he reached out to sneak a hand under her blanket, placing it on her hip. This time she didn’t flinch at his touch, and he counted it as a win.

“Happy New Year,” he whispered, giving her hip a soft squeeze.

For a moment, she didn’t react, but when the first firework went off over the city in front of them, she shifted in her spot, and then her icy fingers found his on her hip. She had taken off her glove, her cold skin leaving a burning sensation on his warmer one. It was his turn to be surprised, but he quickly caught himself, turning her hand so that her smaller one was wrapped up in his.

When his thumb brushed tenderly over the rough skin over her knuckles, she stepped back towards him until her back hit his chest. Without turning towards him, she breathed, “Happy New Year, Matt.”

This might not be a new year’s kiss, but this was pretty damn perfect too. While it probably didn’t even classify as a hug, it was closer than they had been in weeks, and it was more than he had hoped to get from her at all. It was a step in the right direction, and it showed him he was doing something right.

As they watched the fireworks in silence, Matt promised himself that he would do right by her. They would end this year the exact same way they had just started it. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of curiosity, is there a traditional dish you eat on New Year’s Eve in the US? My two NYEs were super unspectacular when I was there. One was spent in an apartment in Lake Tahoe, watching the sleeping kids and the other I spend in Central Park in NYC so we never really ate.  
> Oh, and I know they canceled the fireworks in Chicago this year, but I needed them for the story. I also know you can’t probably see them from the station but well 🤷🏼♀️


	3. Ladders and Invitations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stole the ladder incident from tonight's episode for my own purpose. They will both make some progress in this chapter, and hopefully that will cheer us up over the fact that Brettsey might be a bit painful tonight.   
> Obviously, I wasn't able to finish this story before the show came back on, but well. I know where I want this to go, so it's gonna be about three to four more chapters and then it's wrapped up.   
> I hope you like this chapter. I'm gonna go to sleep now because I'll need to be up in less than six hours to watch the episode ;)  
> Love you guys ♥

If someone would ask Matt how many times he had climbed up the aerial ladder of truck 81, he honestly wouldn’t know the answer. It must have been at least over a thousand times, and the motion of climbing up was muscle memory by now. His feet would step without him telling them to, and his hands slid along the sides of the ladder, telling him about his position on it by his memory of the structure of the ladder. It told him how high he had climbed without looking down, and today, it had also told him how far he would fall if he let go.

In general, the aerial ladder was one of their most reliable tools, aiding them in rescues when it wasn’t possible to reach the top floors of buildings. Today hadn’t been any different. There were victims on the roof, and they had to get them down.

As soon as the ladder had been in place, Matt had climbed up as Mouch had kept on extending the ladder the last few feet. Matt had even heard the familiar clanging of the steel hitting against the side of the building, but then out of nowhere the ladder had sheered out left and he had lost his footing. He barely had time to react, and next thing he knew, he had been hanging down the side of it, holding on with just his left hand. Luckily, Gallo had been right behind him, and within a few tense minutes, his candidate had pulled him back onto the ladder.

As soon as he had both feet on the ladder again, he groaned, rolling his left shoulder. It was stiff, and he could feel the surrounding muscles tensing with each move he made. There goes his plan to just quickly climb up with Gallo to get the victims.

“You good, captain?” Gallo asked from his position above him.

“I pulled my shoulder,” Matt replied through gritted teeth, glancing towards the younger man. “Go up to the roof and check on the two victims. I’m sending Kidd up.”

“Copy that.” Gallo nodded his head, before turning to continue his climb up the ladder. For once the young man did as he was told, which came as a relief to Matt. He wasn’t in the mood for a discussion now.

Shifting in his spot, Matt positioned his hands on the sides of the ladder again, forcing his left hand to not stray away as he made his way down the aerial. Pain radiated through his left shoulder with each step he took, and the closer he got to the truck, the angrier he got.

This shouldn’t have happened. The aerial didn’t just sheer out. This wasn’t some technical issue that needed fixing. It was a mistake of the person operating it, and that made it worse. Mouch had years of experience, and he never slipped up like that.

If this would have happened on their way down, Matt was almost positive that he probably wouldn’t have made it out with just his shoulder taking a hit. It was one thing to swing in the air and support one's own weight, but if he had another person hanging on to him, they would have both fallen. He could have died.

Trust was one of the most important aspects in their line of work because if they couldn’t rely on each other during these dangerous situations, someone would get hurt. Today was the best example of that.

“Captain, I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry,” Mouch addressed him when Matt reached the top of the truck. “It won’t happen again.”

Getting off the ladder, Matt turned towards him, leveling him with a disappointed look. “You’re damn right it won’t. Concentrate on doing your job,” he barked, holding up his hand when Mouch tried to talk again. “We’ll talk about this later. Make sure that Gallo and Kidd get down here in one piece.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Stepping towards the ladder that led him down the truck, he called out over his shoulder towards Kidd, “Kidd, you’re going up. Bring the two victims down and make sure that you have them secured when coming down. I don’t need any more accidents.”

Jumping off the truck, Stella appeared next to him, giving him a quick once over before nodding her head. “I got it, Captain.”

Matt gave the young woman a curt nod, watching as she climbed up the truck to follow his orders. When he lifted his head to glance up to the roof, the searing pain in his shoulder radiated up his neck, and he winced in frustration. Just great.

“I’m taking over here,” Chief Boden told him as he stopped next to him. “Let Brett look at that shoulder.” His voice didn’t leave room for question, and Matt already knew that he couldn’t do anything with this pain in his shoulder.

Matt bit the inside of his cheek as he took a deep breath. Even if he was certain that he had only sprained his shoulder and it just needed some ice, seeing Sylvie right now didn’t sound like the worst idea. She always had a knack for cheering him up, and he needed to get his mind off the last few minutes to not lose himself in his anger.

Glancing around the scene, he spotted the front of the ambulance behind their truck. He made his way down the length of it, but before he could go around it, Sylvie popped up in front of him.

“Matt!” She panted, her hands reaching out to grab onto his arms.

She looked terrified. Her eyes were wide with horror, and her brows were furrowed so tightly that they almost met in the middle. Some strands had fallen out of her small ponytail, framing her face, and moving with each heavy breath she took.

It took him a second longer to realize that she was this fanatic because of him. She was scared because he had almost fallen to his death, something he hadn’t realized himself just yet. It was something he still couldn’t let to the forefront of his brain because his first instinct was to calm Sylvie.

“I’m fine. Nothing happened, Sylvie. I just pulled my shoulder,” he assured her, grabbing her elbow with the hand of his good arm.

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head when you fell over?” She asked him in concern, her hands moving up his chest and to the zipper of his turnout coat. “Your helmet fell off.”

That was also something he hadn’t realized. But then Sylvie pulled down his zipper, pushing his turnout coat open, and the freezing air hit him. It was the middle of January, one of the coldest times of the year in Chicago.

“Hey, how about we move this to the ambulance? It’s a little cold out here,” Matt suggested, catching her hands in his as she fumbled with the buttons of his white polo shirt. “You can check me out there, and I’ll even let you do the concussion protocol.”

It was something she didn’t need to be told twice, and next thing he knew, she made him sit down on the stretcher inside the ambulance as she closed the back doors to keep out the freezing air.

“Take off your coat and shirt. I’ll check your shoulder first,” she instructed him when she came to a halt before him. Her voice was firm, just like Boden’s earlier, and Matt knew that she was dead serious.

He took off his gloves before he shrugged out of the right arm of his turnout coat. It fell behind his back, and when he tried to move his left arm out of it, he was overcome by pain again. A soft wince left his throat, and Sylvie immediately surged forward, helping him out of it.

She grabbed the coat from behind him and placed it next to her on the ground, before she reached out to pull the black scarf from around his neck over his head, dropping it onto his coat.

The look on her face told him he shouldn’t disturb her in her motions of undressing him. This was her own way of calming herself, and if it helped her, Matt would gladly let her fuzz over him. It was fine with him until she turned to grab a pair of scissors out of the compartment over his head.

“What are you gonna do with those?” He asked in confusion, glancing up to her.

She pushed down his red suspenders before tugging at the white long-sleeved shirt to get it out of his pants. “I’m gonna cut your shirt. I need to look at your shoulder, Matt.”

“There is no need for that. Just help me out of it like you did with my coat,” Matt interfered quickly, securing her hand with the scissor in his.

“You’re in pain, Matt,” she countered, leveling him with a pointed look. “Cutting it open will be easier and quicker.”

“And it will cost me a great deal of paperwork to get a new shirt. I can get out of it if you help me. I can deal with the pain, Sylvie. Trust me, I’ve had worse.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s any easier to see you in pain,” Sylvie snapped in a shrill voice. “You were hanging off a ladder with just one hand, Matt. It must have been at least 50 feet between you and the ground.”

“It was a bit higher than that,” he threw in, regretting it immediately when her face morphed into a mix of disbelief and sadness.

“How can you be joking about this? If you would have slipped, you could have…,” she trailed off, sucking in some air. “This could have ended way worse than just with a busted shoulder.”

Prying the scissors out of her hands, Matt placed them next to him on the stretcher, before engulfing her hand with his. “I wasn’t trying to make light of things, Sylvie. I’m trying hard to not think about what else could have happened if I hadn’t grabbed onto the ladder.”

“It’s nothing I ever want to think about,” Sylvie agreed, her lower lip quivering. “I was scared, Matt. Really scared.”

They hadn’t been this honest with each other in a long time, and just holding her hand wasn’t cutting it at this moment. Unfortunately though, he couldn’t do much else with his busted shoulder, so he just pulled her closer to him, until her knees were hitting the stretcher and she was standing between his legs.

“I can’t guarantee you that something like this will never happen again, but I can promise you to do my best to make it back in one piece,” he told her, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand.

She averted her eyes onto their hands, mustering them for a long minute before she pulled her lip between her teeth. “Does that include cutting back on the reckless behavior too? Like jumping out of moving trucks?”

A laugh burst out of his throat, and he closed his eyes, shaking his head. “You’re not gonna let me live that one down, will you?”

Sylvie looked at him bashfully, a teasing smirk covering her lips. “Oh, we will talk about that at one point.”

He liked the sound of that. It was promising, and it made him forget about his condition for a fleeting moment as he tried to lift his other hand to her hip. It pulled a groan from him, and he stopped quickly, pursing his lips. “Maybe we’ll do that another time.”

“Agreed.” She let go of his hand, reaching out to grab the scissors from beside him.

Catching her arm for a second time, he shook his head. “Nope. We’re going to do this my way. You can check me out as thoroughly as you like, but my shirt stays intact.” He pushed his head back to look up to her with lifted eyebrows.

Puffing out some air, she pressed her lips into a tight line. “Fine.”

* * *

Sylvie’s thorough check-up had ended with 61 taking him to Med. It had been completely unnecessary, but after one look at Sylvie’s face, Matt had known that he wouldn’t win this argument. So, instead of fighting her on it, he had kept his mouth shut and let her do her thing.

Now, a few hours later, he came to slightly regret it. Dr. Halstead had put his arm in a sling, telling him he needed to keep his shoulder still for a few days, meaning Matt was off for at least two shifts. A part of him wanted to be mad, but rationally thinking he knew that he couldn’t work with this injury.

Boden had gotten him from the hospital a while ago, and after having a pointed and serious conversation with Mouch, Matt had headed to the locker rooms to change out of the rest of his uniform. One of the nurses at Med had helped him back into his white short-sleeved undershirt, and thankfully he had still found an old sweat jacket in his locker.

“Why is your sling lying on that bench instead of hanging around your neck?”

Shrugging the jacket up over his good shoulder, Matt turned around to Sylvie, who was standing with her hands on her hips just a few feet away from him. One of her brows was lifted, and she glared at him with a stern look in her eyes.

“I just took it off to change. I was gonna put it back on in a second,” he explained as he tried to straighten the jacket, but it only jolted his injured shoulder and made him wince. “I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s freezing outside. This t-shirt won’t quite cut it.” He grabbed onto the white shirt, pulling it away from his body before letting it snap back against him.

Sylvie pressed her lips into a tight line before she silently made her way towards him. Her hands reached out and grabbed onto the material of his jacket, carefully adjusting it until it fell neatly down his upper body.

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy this. He loved every second of it. Sylvie Brett taking care of him turned him into a pile of mush. Earlier in the ambulance, he might have initially let her fuss over him because it was something she needed to calm down, but he had quickly learned that he enjoyed her fussing just as much. It made him feel warm and cherished, and that feeling was addicting.

“Just take it easy for a few days,” Sylvie appealed as she swiftly closed the zipper of his jacket. Bending down towards the bench, she snagged the sling off it. “Your shoulder is going to heal a lot faster if you keep it still.”

She was in full care-taking mode again, and Matt dutifully lowered his head when she lifted the sling back over it. After untwisting the blue material, her hand slid down his left forearm, guiding it up his front and into the slot for the arm. Once his arm was in place, she fastened the strap over his good shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I won’t take the sling off unless it’s necessary,” Matt assured her, giving her shoulder a soft squeeze. “Not with Kidd around. She would snitch on me, and then I’d get another lecture from you. You can be really scary sometimes.”

Sylvie’s lips tugged upwards, and she scrunched up her nose. “No, I’m not. I just have your best interest at heart.”

Matt chuckled softly. “We’ll leave it at that.”

His statement pulled a small laugh from her lips, and she averted her gaze, her blonde locks cascading down her face in soft waves. She shifted in her spot, and with her face hidden by her hair, Matt had to fight the urge to tug the strands back behind her ear. That would be too much too soon. He didn’t want to push her, because right now they had a good thing going.

It felt like they had at least made it back to the same level of friendship they had before their kiss, and that was good. Their conversations were light, and he was able to make her laugh. That was progress. He had at least gained back her trust as her friend, and now he could try to shift them towards something more. He just needed to be patient.

The pause in their conversation made Sylvie shift in her spot, and after pushing her hair behind her ear, she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Well, I should let you get going,” she told him, puffing out some air. “I should check in with Mackey.”

He nodded, biting the inside of his cheek. He’d rather talk to her some more. There was nothing waiting for him at home, but she still had a job to do.

“Hopefully, you won’t get called to anything major anymore today. I think we could all use a quiet night,” Matt pointed out, grabbing his coat from his locker before closing it.

“That sounds nice. Just please don’t jinx it,” Sylvie huffed with a shake of her head. Looking back up to him, she pointed over her shoulder. “I’m gonna go. I’ll see you later. Drive safe, Matt.”

Sending her a gentle smile, he nodded his head in agreement for a second time. “Be safe out there.”

“I will,” she promised. “Bye, Matt.” With that she turned around, heading towards the exit of the locker room.

Tearing his gaze away from her, Matt threw his coat over his shoulders, slipping his good arm inside before grabbing his bag from the bench.

“Matt?”

The captain turned his head back toward Sylvie’s voice. He found her leaning against the end of the lockers with both of her hands. The metal compartments hid most of her body, but her head was peeking around them.

“Do you wanna grab breakfast tomorrow?” She asked in a small voice as she gnawed on her bottom lip.

Adrenaline rushed through him, and he felt his mouth go dry. His brain went into overdrive at her question, her very simple question, but his words failed him for the millionth time that moment. “I can’t.”

Her face fell at his words, and she disappeared further behind the lockers. “Oh.”

He was such an idiot. Why couldn’t he for once use clear and precise sentences with her? She was the first person who made him fumble for words, but not always in the best way.

“No, Sylvie. What I meant is that I already have plans tomorrow morning,” he corrected himself, taking a step towards her. One look at her face told him that hadn’t made it better at all. Clearing his throat, he pulled in a short breath. “I have an appointment with Chaplain Sanders.”

Realization dawned on her face. “That’s good.”

She was giving him the perfect opportunity to take the next step. He just needed to take it. Sucking in a deep breath, he let the air out slowly again. “How about lunch, though?”

Her eyes widened in surprise, and her lips parted. She looked like she hadn’t expected his answer, even though she had been the one to suggest meeting up in the first place.

“Remington’s at 12:30?” He suggested quickly before she could back out of it. “I’ll meet you there?”

Sylvie nodded hesitantly, her eyes never leaving his. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Great. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.” He tried hard to tone down his excitement, but he barely managed. The beam on his face probably looked more like a grimace, but he couldn’t care less.

This wasn’t a date. This was just two friends finally meeting up again outside of work, but that was still more than enough. 


	4. Hot Water Bottles and Naps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: First off, if you're not comfortable reading about period cramps then skip this one. And it's just cramps, no blood or anything else. 
> 
> Now to the rest of the chapter. It's rather short and not too much is happening, but fear not. The next one will show a massive amount of progress again. Maybe I will be able to post it on Wednesday/Thursday, depending on how fast I can write it. This will also wrap up in three more parts! So yay! Almost done. 
> 
> Other than that, I'm just excited for Wednesday's new episode! :)

The way from the bathroom to the bunkroom seemed excruciatingly long today, and each step Sylvie had to take felt like too much. The blonde paramedic had to force her feet to keep moving, and when she finally reached her bunk bed, she collapsed onto it. The small bag in her hand glided onto the mattress next to her, and within seconds, Sylvie curled herself into a fetus position. Pulling her legs as close to her stomach as she could, Sylvie wrapped her arms around them to hold them in place.

Her new position barely did anything for the stabbing pain in her lower stomach, and she desperately clenched her thighs tighter together. It didn’t help either. Curving her back some more, she pressed her chin towards her chest, shutting her eyes as another wave of cramps surged through her.

She had just enough time to bite her lip to stop the painful groan from slipping out of her throat. The timing of the start of her period really couldn’t have been worse this month. According to her calendar, she still had four more days, but at the morning briefing, her body had told her otherwise. It meant she had come unprepared, or at least unprepared for these cramps.

In general, she was in no position to complain about her period. Sure, she had cramps, but they usually only occurred on her first day and only lasted for a couple of hours. It was nothing compared to what other women had to go through every month, and Sylvie hoped that she would never be in a position to find out.

Regardless of their duration, her cramps were still real and unpleasantly painful. They knocked her out for a couple of hours every four weeks, not caring if she was on shift or not.

Until now, ambulance 61 hadn’t gotten called out, and Sylvie dreaded the moment it did. Her pain tolerance was high, and she had worked through her cramps before, but it was something she really didn’t need.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she tensed in her spot on her bunk as the stabbing pain continued to wreak havoc on her body. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she would fall asleep. That would be nice, but also highly unlikely. Apart from the pain, the house was bustling with energy today, and the noise level was over the top. Just moments ago, Tony and Capp had walked through the bunkroom, arguing loudly over some new equipment.

This day just sucked.

“Sylvie, hey, what’s wrong?” Matt’s voice reached her ears. His footsteps stopped beside her bed, and the rustling of his clothes told her he had crouched down next to her. Seconds later, one of his hands landed on her upper arm while he placed the other on her head.

He was the last person who needed to see her like this. They had finally left all that awkwardness behind them after their lunch last week. Menstruations were natural and happened to all the women in the world. She wasn’t embarrassed because of it. In her experience though, men tended to get super uncomfortable when they were confronted by it, and she simply didn’t have it in her right now to have an awkward discussion with him about this.

“I’m fine,” she told him in a small voice, swallowing her discomfort. Instead of looking at him, she kept her chin pressed to her chest and her eyes firmly shut. Besides, she didn’t need to look at him to know that his face was etched with concern.

“Don’t lie to me, Sylvie. I can see that you’re in pain,” he muttered, pushing a few strands of hair back from her face before his thumb skimmed over her hairline in a feather-light touch.

It felt comforting, and when he rubbed his other hand over her arm, her resolve slowly crumbled. “I’ll be fine in a few hours,” she corrected herself, biting her lip to distract herself from the knife stabbing in her stomach.

Matt hummed softly, his fingers scratching over her scalp. He kept quiet for a while, and Sylvie concentrated on his soothing motions, hoping that it might lull her to sleep.

“I know this is something we don’t talk about, but I have lived together with more than one woman. And I’m not oblivious to the fact that there is a certain time each month when women tend to not feel too great,” Matt pointed out as his hand on her arm moved to her back. “It’s nothing to feel embarrassed about, Sylvie. It’s period cramps, right?”

His words caught her off guard, and she slowly moved her head to peek up to him. He was indeed crouched down next to her bed, his head hanging low over hers. When their eyes met, he blinked at her softly, the corners of his lips tugging up the tiniest bit.

There wasn’t an ounce of disgust or discomfort on his face. Instead, he looked at her with calm and understanding eyes. It hit her hard and even made her forget about her pain for a fleeting moment.

“Hey,” he whispered as he trailed his thumb over the skin of her forehead. “Wanna tell me what I can do to make you feel better? You want me to call in a relief?”

“No, I’ll be fine. This is not the first time this has happened on shift. I can still work,” Sylvie quickly refuted, shifting her head to get a better look at him.

“Sylvie.”

“No, I’m serious, Matt. It will only last for a couple of hours, and then I’ll be fine. I promise,” she explained as she took a couple of controlled breaths to breathe away another series of cramps. 

“Then let me take 61 out of service for that time,” Matt suggested instead, tilting his head to the side.

“Matt, no—”

“It’s just a couple of hours, Sylvie. You said it yourself,” he interrupted her gently, quirking an eyebrow up. The way his eyes gently bore into her told Sylvie that she had lost this battle. He had made up his mind.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she mumbled, “Fine.”

A fleeting smile covered his face, but instead of basking in his triumph, his brows stayed furrowed, and his thumb brushed over her temple. “Anything else I can do? You want me to get you some ibuprofen?”

Sylvie shook her head. “It doesn’t help. I usually just sit it out with my heating pad.”

The captain pressed his lips into a tight line as the hand on her back glided back to her shoulder and down her upper arm. He took a deep breath, his shoulders sagging when he released the air again. “OK, how about you lay down in my quarters then? It’s quieter, and away from prying eyes.”

Her eyes moved over his face, taking in every single inch of it. His undying solicitude made her heart burst, and she found herself falling just a bit deeper in love with him. Nobody had shown such a massive amount of concern for her before, and it made her long for the firefighter even more. He represented everything she had always been looking for, and his constant attention lately made it hard to not let herself get wrapped up in him.

And today, she had no energy to fight the urge any longer.

Turning her hand over, she reached for his hand on her arm and intertwined their fingers. “That’d be nice.”

For a second Matt looked like he was about to lean down to her, but then he squeezed her hand, giving it a soft tug. “Come on, then.”

Within seconds, Matt had stood up and helped her off her bunk. When he wrapped his arm around her waist, she turned into him for the short walk towards his quarters. She didn’t even protest when he urged her to take off her shoes and loosen her belt. The second her head hit his pillow, and she curled into herself, he was covering her with a blanket and tugging her in.

“Try to sleep. I’ll be right back,” he promised, rubbing his hand over her back.

When he pulled back, she missed his touch, and a shudder ran through her body. Grabbing the blanket, she wrapped it tighter around her body as she closed her eyes.

* * *

It took Matt almost an hour to make it back to his quarters. He didn’t mean to be gone for that long, but after he had talked to Boden, he wanted to do one extra thing for Sylvie.

In his head, getting her a heating pad sounded like a task that was easy enough, but in the end, it turned out to be quite a mission. At first, Matt had gone to Stella, hoping that the firefighter might be able to help him. Kidd had been more than willing to help him, and soon they had searched every corner at the firehouse, just to realize that heating pads weren’t part of the inventory of a fire station.

It had annoyed him, and he had just accepted his defeat, walking out of the common room, when Kylie called his name before throwing him a bag.

“Stella called me and said you might need something like that,” she informed him with a smirk on her face. “It’s old-fashioned, but it still does the trick. Just fill it with hot water.”

Opening the bag, Matt pulled out a red water bottle, something that he hadn’t seen in quite a while. His sister used to have one when they were younger, but after that, he had never seen them again.

Clamping the bag under his arm, he unscrewed the lid, nodding his head at the young girl. “Thanks, Kylie,”

A cheeky grin covered her face, and she shrugged her shoulders. “Glad I could help, Captain. Better get it ready for Brett now.”

The girl was way too wise for her 17 years, which probably resulted from the fact that she had to grow up faster than most teenagers. He knew a thing or two about that, and it made him admire her. No matter what she had to go through in her life, she was still all smiles and graces. With a good portion of bite, but still.

Wrinkling his forehead, Matt raised an eyebrow at the girl. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

With a snort and an eye roll, she turned to walk down the hallway towards the offices. Matt watched her leave for a moment longer before he made his way back into the common room to get the water bottle ready.

Five minutes later, he was finally stepping back into his quarters. Sylvie was still curled up in the same position he had left her earlier, not moving when he entered the room. After closing the door, he tiptoed over to her.

Her back was to him, and when he leaned over to her, he saw that her eyes were still closed. Her breaths were even, coming out in short puffs. She was asleep, and for a second he considered just placing the water bottle beside her for when she would wake up, but he decided against it when a pained huff left her lips. Maybe she was just dozing after all. 

Biting the inside of his cheek, he carefully grabbed onto the side of the blanket, peeling it off her until he could sneak the warm bottle under it. Her legs were pulled up her stomach so he couldn’t place it directly on her lower abdomen.

As soon as the warmth soaked through to her though, Sylvie reached out to grab onto it, adjusting her position on his bed. He kept hold of the bottle as she shifted until she had the bottle placed between her legs and her stomach.

“Matt?” Her voice was rough with sleep.

“It’s not a heating pad, but it might still help,” he told her while he readjusted the blanket over her. “It’s a warm water bottle, so keep it upright just in case.”

She just nodded her head against the pillow, her eyes still tightly shut. Her forehead was wrinkled, showing him she was still in a lot of pain.

He prayed that the warmth would soothe at least some of her cramps because seeing her in pain was tearing him apart too. Knowing that this was a monthly thing for her made it even worse. He was no stranger to periods and what they entailed as he had been in two serious long-term relationships before.

Hallie had rarely gotten cramps, and when she did, painkillers had usually worked for her. The only repercussions he had gotten from those five days every few weeks had been her slightly gloomy mood, and it had been easy for him to take care of that.

With Gabby, it had been a completely different story. She had preferred to keep it to herself, meaning that she had always dealt with it on her own. He honestly wasn’t sure if she had ever gotten any bad cramps, and if she did, she didn’t tell him. Those five days had always made her just a tad snappier, and most of the time he had just tried to read her mind on what she might need.

Matt wasn’t sure yet how Sylvie’s mood changed with her period as he had never noticed it before. Her cramps were bad enough, and he hoped she didn’t have to deal with anything more from it.

Without thinking too much about it, Matt lowered himself onto the bed, sitting next to her tucked up legs. His hand snuck back under her blanket and jacket, coming to rest on her lower back. When he slowly started to rub it over her shirt, a soft groan left her lips. He instantly stilled his hand, afraid that he had gotten her more discomfort than relief.

“Please don’t stop,” she whispered, pressing her back into his hand.

Matt let out the air he was holding as he continued to rub his hand over the small of her back, increasing the pressure to see if she liked it. It pulled another moan from her, so he continued it with the new intensity.

His other hand landed on her drawn thigh, giving it a soft squeeze. “I got you, Sylvie. I won’t leave, I’ll promise.”

And it was a promise he wanted to keep for far longer than just the next few hours. By now, he knew that he was in for the long haul with her. He just needed to convince her of it too, but the way she let him take care of her told him that maybe his chances weren’t too bad after all.


	5. Strange Calls and Drunken Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished editing it. It took me forever and I added 500 more words to it, but well. It's now 4,500 on the dot.   
> Someone wanted to see drunken Sylvie again, and here she comes. I love her. This was fun to write, and I can't wait to finish this series. There is one more one shot and then you do get a bigger conclusion part to finish it all up. Maybe I'll even manage to do that before the new episode. Who knows? :)
> 
> Many thanks go out to Logan (angelwings) who helped me out of a jiff yesterday with one of the sentences. Sometimes you just need somebody to help you get over one tiny sentence and puff, you can finish your fic in no time! :)

“You want another one?” Kelly Severide asked Matt, pointing to the almost empty bottle in his hands.

“Nah, I’m good,” Matt declined with a shake of his head. He was still nursing his second bottle, and he wasn’t close to finishing it anytime soon. Someone needed to get them home after all.

They were at Molly’s, and they had barely been there for more than two hours. For a Saturday night, it was quiet with only a handful of tables occupied as most of the regulars had already left. It was just after 10 pm, but Severide had already downed four bottles of beer, and he didn’t seem to want to stop anytime soon.

“Suit yourself. I’m getting a new one,” the lieutenant shrugged as he got up from his spot and left towards the bar.

Matt watched as his friend shuffled away, leaning heavily against the bar as he signaled towards Herrmann. He wasn’t drunk yet, but he was going to get there sooner rather than later if he kept up this pace. Maybe it was time to leave soon before his friend reached the point where he would start to argue.

Severide and Kidd had a huge fight just a few hours earlier, one that Matt had to witness in the middle of their apartment. He had tried not to listen, but even when he had silently retreated to his room, he had still heard their angry voices. Or more precisely, Stella’s angry voice.

There had been a bit of tension between them, and most of it had to do with Stella taking the lieutenant’s test in two weeks. Someone had slipped Severide that some people had spread rumors about Stella’s sudden uprising in the CFD. Rumors that involved his relationship with her.

Severide being Severide had kept it to himself and had pulled back from her instead of telling her. Matt couldn’t even tell when his best friend had first heard about these rumors. Not so long ago, Severide had told him he wanted to propose, so Matt’s best guess was that it had to happen in the new year.

About two weeks ago, the rumors had gotten through to Stella and it had only spiraled from there. Kidd had dealt with it herself in the beginning, repeatedly telling her boyfriend to not step in and let it pass. And Severide had respected that up until yesterday, when some asshat named Kennedy, who had gone to the academy with Stella and now worked at firehouse 18, had made a joke about it in front of their entire crew on a joint call.

Without hesitation, Severide had stepped in and exploded. It hadn’t been pretty, and while Matt had been the one to pull Severide away from the other firefighter, he knew he would have reacted the same way if someone had said those nasty things about Sylvie.

However, the incident hadn’t sat well with Stella at all, and the two of them had barely kept it at bay for the rest of shift. The second they had been home; it had broken out of them. They had yelled at each other for several minutes before it had gotten quiet again, but then a moment later, the front door had been thrown shut with a loud bang.

Matt had figured it must have been Stella, and not much later, Sylvie had texted him to let him know that Stella would stay with her for a few days.

When Matt had checked on his friend, he hadn’t been in the mood to talk about any of it, but he had agreed to go to Molly’s with him that night. In general, Molly’s was always a good place to go, but today, Severide was only drowning his sorrows, barely saying a word, and Matt wasn’t any wiser yet.

Matt’s phone vibrated on the table, and it pulled his attention away from his friend’s relationship for a moment. He averted his gaze onto the table to check who was calling him at this hour. It was an unknown number, but it had the Chicago area code.

Confused, he picked the phone up and slid his thumb over the screen. “Hello?”

“Hello, I’m calling for Matt?” A male voice on the other end answered. There was quite some background noise, maybe music or just loud chattering, Matt couldn’t tell. He also didn’t recognize the voice on the other line.

Wrinkling his forehead, Matt turned his bottle on the table. “Speaking. Who’s this?”

“My name is Jeff. I work at Replay in Lincoln Park. Your girlfriend and her friend need a ride home. They both had one too many drinks, and I’m not comfortable with them taking an Uber,” the guy on the other line explained in a calm tone.

“My girlfriend?” Matt asked in surprise as he leaned back in his chair.

“Uhm, yeah. Petite, blonde woman with blue eyes. I think her name is Sylvie. Do you want me to put her on?”

He should have seen that one coming. Sylvie was the only one who would get mistaken for his girlfriend these days, but it wasn’t entirely clear to Matt how a bartender would do so. And more importantly, he had no clue how Sylvie and Stella had gotten to a bar. The last time he had texted the blonde paramedic, she told him that Stella and she were having a girl’s night at home, not in some bar in Lincoln Park.

Severide chose that moment to slide back into his place opposite of him, placing his fresh bottle on the table in front of him. He nodded at the phone with a questioning look on his face.

“Yes, please put her on for a second,” Matt replied, rubbing a hand over his face. The phone rustled and then a series of giggles came through the line. “Sylvie?”

At her name, Severide sat up straight in his chair, his brows lifting. “Is she still with Stella?”

Matt waved him off as he leaned forward again. He rested his elbow on the table, listening closely to the uninterpretable noise on the other end. “Sylvie, can you talk to me for a second?” He tried one more time.

After another series of giggles, the phone rustled some more, before her voice sounded through it, “Matt?”

A breath of relief left his lungs, and he pressed the phone harder against his ear. “Are you two doing OK?”

“We’re so drunk, Matt. First, we had cocktails and then we did tequila shots. And then we had more cocktails. They are so good, Matt,” she giggled in a high-pitched voice. “We wanted to have another round, but Jeff told us no. That’s very mean.”

Her babbling was cute, and he had to suppress the smile that threatened to cover his lips. Her tongue always loosened when she was drunk or even just tipsy. Today though, she sounded wasted.

“Well, I think Jeff made a good decision,” he told her, biting the inside of his cheek. “Listen, I’m at Molly’s, but I’m coming to get you two, alright? Just sit tight for a bit.”

“Stella, Matt’s picking us up. Isn’t he perfect? He’s always there when I need him,” Sylvie’s muffled voice reached his ears, making his pulse speed up. She was drunk, and she probably didn’t know what she was saying, but it still made his belly flutter.

“No! No boys allowed tonight. Not even your perfect captain. He’s gonna tell Kelly, and then he will come too. But I don’t wanna see his handsome face,” Stella yelled in the background, sounding just as equally drunk.

“Are you with Kelly, Matt? You have to promise you won’t bring him with you. We don’t want him here. He’s not invited,” Sylvie said sternly, but her words were slurred. Matt could almost imagine the matching stern look that graced her face.

“I won’t. Now hand the phone back to Jeff, will you? I’ll be there soon,” Matt promised her, standing up from his chair.

After more giggling on the line, it rustled until Jeff was on once more, “Will you be picking them up?”

“Yes, I’ll be there in 15 minutes. Just make sure they don’t leave before that. Can you give me the address again?” Matt asked as he pushed his chair against the table.

“Yeah, it’s at the corner of N Halstead St and W Dickens Ave.”

“Thanks for calling me. I’ll be there soon. Bye.” With that Matt hung up, stuffing his phone into the pocket of his jacket that was hanging over the back of his chair.

“Where are you going?” His friend asked him confused. “Is Stella alright? Are they in trouble?”

“Sylvie and Stella had a little too much to drink, and they need a ride home. I’ll get them now,” Matt informed him, grabbing his jacket, and shrugging it on. 

“Let me come with you.”

“No, Sev, it’s better if you stay here,” Matt stopped him with a shake of his head. “Kidd was pretty mad at you earlier. I think it’s better if you both cool off for a bit. She’s drunk and you’re not exactly sober either.”

“I’m fine,” the lieutenant exclaimed, getting up from his chair. “I wanna see her.”

Matt sighed, stepping up to stand in front of his best friend. Placing his hands on his shoulders, he pushed him back into his chair. “You’re staying. If you wanna fix things with Kidd, you gotta give her some space. I got her. Don’t worry.”

Severide slumped back into his chair, grabbing his beer bottle, and taking a long sip from it. “I screwed up. I should have told her the moment I heard those rumors.”

Oh, now he wanted to talk. His timing couldn’t be worse. Shifting on his feet, Matt patted his back before giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It will work out. The two of you have always found your way back to each other, and this time won’t be any different. Just give her a couple of days.”

Severide nodded, scratching over the label of his bottle. “I hope so.”

“I’m gonna go now. Do me a favor and go home after you finish this,” Matt told him as he fished his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll see you later.”

With one last look at his friend, Matt walked towards the exit of the bar. They needed to catch a break soon. All of them.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, when Matt walked into Replay and located the two girls at the bar, it slowly dawned on him he might be in over his head.

The bar was fancier than Molly’s, and while there wasn’t a bouncer, there was still a server who asked him for his reservation. Luckily for him, the guy was understanding and let him right through, but it made him wonder how Sylvie and Stella had gotten in at the last minute.

As Matt made his way over to them, he could feel a few other people staring. He didn’t match the dress code with his sweater and worn-out jacket, sticking out more than he liked. Sylvie and Stella though had dressed for the occasion, both of them wearing short black dresses.

Before he reached them, Sylvie spotted him, instantly sliding off her barstool with less grace than usual. She stumbled when her feet hit the ground, and Matt surged forward, catching her just before she fell.

“Matt,” she exclaimed happily as she pulled herself up by grabbing onto his arms. “You’re here.”

Huffing softly, he tightened his grip on her waist, keeping her close to him. She was warm and soft, and with their bodies pressed together, he felt himself get distracted. She looked beautiful tonight. Her hair was curly and framing her face, her lips were painted bright red, and the fitting black dress with the generous neckline left not a lot to his imagination.

Swallowing hard, he forced his eyes to stay on her face. “You owe me an explanation. What happened to staying in tonight?”

Sylvie giggled softly, running her hands up his shoulders and to his chest where she snuck them under his open jacket. “We were sulking about moronic and impulsive men when we decided we deserved better than that. We’re both too pretty to stay at home all night.” She smiled up to him, tilting her head to the side. “Do you think I’m pretty, Matt?”

He chuckled at her dorky and adorable drunkenness, and it cleared his mind from the heated desire he had felt for her just moments ago. “I think you’re very drunk and I should get you home,” he avoided her question, looking at her pointedly.

“You don’t think I’m pretty?” She pouted, her face falling as she averted her gaze onto her hands on his chest. “It’s because I’m blonde, right? You prefer brunettes.”

Her pout morphed into a grimmer and sadder expression, one that Matt hadn’t seen in a couple of weeks. The alcohol not only brought out her adorable and dorky side, but it also brought out all her deep insecurities, and there was no way that Matt would let her live through them again.

“Hey, no, Sylvie,” he whispered, bending his neck to catch her eyes. He carefully lifted her chin until their eyes met before ghosting his fingers over her cheek. “You’re beautiful, and I love your blonde hair.”

At his words, her eyes widened most innocently. “You do?”

“I do,” he assured her with a small smile, before turning a bit more serious again. “But you’re still drunk, and I should get you home.”

A smile spread back over her face, and the paramedic bit her lip, once again ignoring the part about leaving the bar. “You always know how to make me feel better.”

“Can you stop flirting already?” Stella interrupted them with a groan. “Men are idiots. Remember, Brett? We don’t need them.”

“But it’s Matt,” Sylvie countered weakly, blinking at her friend in confusion. She leaned her head against his shoulder as her hands wandered from his chest around his back, staying hidden underneath his jacket.

“Casey broke your heart just a couple of weeks ago. He isn’t any better than Kelly. Those two are emotionally stunted idiots. They should date each other instead,” Kidd grumbled bitterly, taking a sip out of the glass of water in front of her.

Sylvie stiffened in his arms, and Matt felt her pull away from him slowly. Before she could go too far though, he grabbed her arms and tugged her back into his side. They had made a lot of progress these last few weeks, and one little comment from Stella Kidd wouldn’t ruin that.

Luckily, his gesture was enough to ease Sylvie’s mind as she relaxed back into him. The blonde nuzzled her face into his shoulder, pushing his jacket out of her way until her nose and forehead rested against his neck, and her eyelashes fluttered against his sensitive skin. He could feel her hot breath fanning against it too, and the sensation gave him goosebumps. His heart hammered against his chest, and his fingers ached to run over her body just so he could catalog every inch of her.

The clinking of glasses pulled his mind back to the present, reminding him where he was and what he was supposed to do. Sylvie was drunk, and she wouldn’t remember a thing tomorrow morning. And he wasn’t a dick who would take advantage of her. This tight embrace they shared was pushing it already, but a tiny part of him couldn’t help but enjoy it for as long as it would last.

Allowing his hand to stroke over the small of Sylvie’s back, Matt mustered Kidd as he remembered her bitter comment. “You OK there, Kidd?”

The firefighter looked just as miserable as her boyfriend earlier, even if she was dressed better. Her elbow was resting on the bar, her head propped up on her hand, squishing her cheek. She was at least as drunk as Sylvie, and his arrival had seemed to put her into a sour mood.

“Just great. Are you gonna get us home now?” Kidd mumbled, sliding off her chair. “The fun just got sucked out of this evening.”

The mood had shifted, and Matt wasn’t sure if he preferred their happy giggling state from a few minutes ago or this quieter state with an angry and sour Stella and a clingy and touchy Sylvie in his arms.

Pulling in a deep breath, Matt nodded his head. “Sounds good to me. Just put on your coats and we can go.”

Kidd obliged immediately, snagging her coat from the back of her barstool while Sylvie buried herself deeper against his chest. She partially slipped under his jacket as she tightened her long arms around his middle.

“Come on, Sylvie. It’s time to go home. It’s freezing outside. You need your jacket,” he urged her while stepping closer to the barstool to get her coat.

“I don’t need it. You’re warm enough,” she mumbled into his neck, not moving an inch away from him. Her grip on him only tightened, and she rubbed her nose against his neck.

It didn’t make things easier. He wanted nothing more than to stay like this too, but they couldn’t. This wasn’t the place, nor the time. Sylvie was drunk, and Kidd was standing just a few feet away from them, sulking.

Plucking her coat from the stool, he brought it to her shoulders, laying it over them before he reached around his back to loosen her grip on him.

“Your coat will be warm too. Please put it on,” he tried again in a slightly firmer tone, earning himself a whine from the blonde. She had barely moved away from him, and he had only got her to slip one arm into the coat.

“Brett! Listen to the captain,” Kidd groaned in frustration. The dark-haired woman grabbed onto her friend’s arm that was already in her coat and tore her away from Matt with a bit more force than necessary. Sylvie stumbled towards her, crashing into her.

Matt’s first instinct was to snap at Kidd, but when a soft burst of laughter left Sylvie’s throat, he calmed down. They were both drunk, and Kidd didn’t mean to be so rough with her friend.

Clumsily, Sylvie stuck her second arm into her coat before enveloping her friend in a tight hug, almost like she had hugged him moments ago.

“I love you, Stella,” Sylvie slurred, pulling her head back to look up to her friend. “You’re my best friend in the entire world, and I will gladly share my bed with you for as long as you want. Nobody else wants to fill that spot, anyway.”

Wrong, Matt did. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with her every night and wake up with her every morning. It sounded like a dream come true.

“Hey man,” someone said from beside him, and Matt turned his head towards the bar. His eyes found a dark-haired man who was drying a glass with a towel in his hands. “Don’t forget your girlfriend’s purse.” He nodded towards a small black clutch on the bar.

“Are you Jeff?” Matt asked as he mustered the bartender who nodded. “Thank you for calling me. Did they settle their tap?”

“They did, but thanks for checking and coming out to get them,” Jeff told him, throwing the towel over his shoulder as he placed the glass onto the shelf behind him. “Have fun getting them home.”

With a quick nod, Matt chuckled and reached for Sylvie’s purse before he turned back to the girls. They had managed to walk towards the exit, chatting with the young server who smiled at them politely.

With a shake of his head, Matt set his path towards them. Hopefully, the rest of the way home would be easier.

* * *

The ride to Sylvie’s apartment had been spent in silence with the two women huddled together next to him. Sylvie had sat in the middle seat, but she had turned away from him, her arms wrapped around her friend’s. Matt had almost missed her clingy phase from the bar, but when they had reached her apartment, she had tugged herself back into his side on the way up. However, it felt different this time as Stella had thrown her arm over his shoulder too, her movements becoming more sluggish with each step she had taken.

He had planned to bring them upstairs and leave, but when they both had just plopped down on Sylvie’s bed like dead logs, he had forced them both up and into the bathroom to change.

Matt had used that time to get them each a glass of water and some Advil, placing it onto the nightstand. He even found a bucket just in case one of them needed to throw up. Not much later, Stella had emerged from the bathroom, wearing an oversized CFD shirt that definitely belonged to his best friend. She hadn’t acknowledged him as he had quickly left the bedroom to give her privacy.

As he was walking back into the living room, his eyes fell onto the couch. He hadn’t been back in Sylvie’s apartment since the night they had kissed, something he just realized now. And that couch just stuck out to him.

He wanted to hate it because it was the place where he had stuck his foot in his mouth, almost ruining his entire relationship with Sylvie before it had even started. At the same time though, he couldn’t help but feel thankful for Sylvie’s self-preservation that day. It had gotten him to address a lot of suppressed feelings and memories, and it had only made him fall deeper for the blonde paramedic.

“I almost threw the couch out because you broke my heart,” Sylvie’s voice sounded from behind him, and Matt glanced over his shoulder to see the paramedic coming out of the bathroom.

She was still swaying as she made her way over to him, and when Matt looked into her eyes, he saw how glassy they were. Instead of stopping before him, she bumped into him, her hands gripping onto his jacket as the rest of her body molded against his.

His hands automatically landed on her waist, resting over the thin material of her sleep shirt. Warmth radiated through it, and he was tempted to glance down her body, but he kept his eyes on her face. It was free of makeup, and for some reason, she had never looked more beautiful to him. Despite her honest words, her features didn’t show a hint of hurt or sadness, proving to him just how drunk she was.

Lifting his hand, he brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. “You should go to sleep now. You’re going to have a killer headache tomorrow.”

Bending her neck, she gazed up to him. Most of her weight rested against him as she blinked. “I really want you, Matt,” she mumbled with wide, blue eyes as she played with the lapels of his jacket. “I want you to kiss me senseless and make me forget my name, but only if you want me for me and not because you can’t have someone else. I don’t mind being second best at most things, but I can’t be second best to you.”

His heart stopped at her words, and he breathed, “Sylvie. I—”

“And you said you would work it out, but it’s been months, and I still don’t know if anything has changed for you,” she ignored him, talking over him in a thick, taut voice, her gaze directed at her hands on his chest. “First, you got me Captain America, who makes me think of you whenever I sit in the ambulance. And then you saved me lunch and held my hand when we rang in the New Year. You even made me feel comfortable when I had my period a few weeks back, and nobody has ever done that for me.” Her grip on his jacket tightened, and she angrily tugged at his labels. “I can feel you staring at me all the time, but I don’t know what to do with all of that. I don’t know what this means for us. I’m—”

“Hey, hold on for a second,” Matt interrupted her rant, cupping her cheek to get her to focus on him. This was the unfiltered drunken truth slipping out of her, and he could tell that it had been brewing for a while.

Their eyes met, but Sylvie was already taking another hasty breath to continue. She opened her mouth, but Matt was faster this time. 

“No, listen to me, Sylvie,” Matt insisted as he planted his hand a bit firmer on her cheek to keep her grounded to him. “You’re right. I should have been more vocal about my feelings for you. And it’s past time we talked about them again.” He held her gaze, brushing his thumb over her cheekbone. “But not when you’re this drunk. You won’t remember a word I said tomorrow morning, and I need you to know how serious I am about us.”

The paramedic closed her mouth, her forehead wrinkling. It looked like she was trying to process his words, but her brain wasn’t quite catching up with them. She blinked a few times, the frown on her face deepening until she closed her eyes with a groan.

“My head hurts,” she mumbled miserably, her emotional speech slipping from her mind in mere seconds. “I don’t feel so good.”

Her short outburst must have sucked the last bit of energy out of her, propelling her into one of the unpleasant states of intoxication. Matt had hoped that she would pass out before she started to feel sick, but it might be too late now.

“Come here,” he urged, guiding her head to his chest as he tugged her into his embrace.

She came willingly, burying herself under his jacket with one hand going around his back and the other resting on his chest. He let his fingers run through her hair, scratching her scalp gently. Every last bit of tension left her body, and soon she melted into his embrace.

“You should get some sleep before your headache gets worse,” he whispered into her hair, pressing his lips against her hairline in a soft kiss. He breathed in her scent for a moment, before adding, “And despite what you may think, you’re not second best to me, Sylvie. You never will be.”

He knew that she wouldn’t remember his words in the morning, but it felt good to get them out. He was prepared to repeat them as often as she needed to hear them, even if he would have to do so for the rest of his life.


	6. Broken Cabinets and Engagements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is the last part of the main Little Things part (that sounds really confusing). Anyway, what I mean is that the conclusion will be separately posted because technically, it doesn't fit in with the concept of Matt doing little things for Sylvie. You'll see when I'll post it. It's gonna have a bit more of an end of the season vibe. 
> 
> A lot of thanks go out to my girls from my group chat on twitter because they helped me with this chapter immensely! Thank you guys!
> 
> Thank you for reading guys! It means the world to me that you enjoyed this story! :)

It had been a week since Matt had gotten Sylvie and Stella home after their drunken night out. And what a long week it had been.

Kidd and Severide had reconciled within four days, and the dark-haired woman had moved back into their apartment. Ever since then, the two of them had been inseparable, spending most of their time locked in their bedroom. Matt had tried to ignore the noises that they had been making, but it had been getting harder with each passing day.

It had reminded him to rethink his living situation. It was about time he moved out, but right now, he hadn’t had the time to figure it all out. He couldn’t remember the last time his calendar had been this full.

With March approaching in a week, his construction business picked up again, and he already had a list of clients that would last him well into April. Currently, he was remodeling an entire basement for a family of four who desperately needed the extra space because they had a fifth kid on the way. The job was time-consuming, and Matt had asked Capp and Tony to help him out next week to move things forward a little faster.

Today, he had been so wrapped up in the project that he had forgotten the time, and by the time he had left, it had been past 5 pm already. Earlier this week, he had promised Sylvie to fix one of her cabinets as it wouldn’t close anymore, and he had told her he’d swing by her place after the job. When she had asked him for a time, he had told her it wouldn’t be later than four-thirty, which meant he was late. Almost an hour late.

It added to the stress he felt when it came to Sylvie these days. The past week, he had tried to find the right moment to address their relationship and his feelings for her, but it never came. It frustrated him, something that Sylvie was oblivious to.

As predicted, she hadn’t remembered a thing from her drunken speech to him. Both Stella and Sylvie were actually both a bit embarrassed about that night, and they made him swear to draw a veil over it. It made everything just a bit more complicated, as he had to find a different way to start the conversation and stir it towards their relationship.

He had wracked his brain about the right way to start their conversation, but it’s been a week and he had made no headway. He just knew that it shouldn’t be at Molly’s or at the firehouse which left him with not a lot of other options. In his head, he’d have to take her somewhere private where nobody could interrupt them, so taking her out to eat was also out of the cards.

Just this morning, Chaplain Sanders had told him he was putting too much pressure on himself in certain situations. They hadn’t talked about his feelings for Sylvie at that point, but Matt realized it might also apply to his current dilemma with the blonde paramedic.

When Matt walked down the hallway towards her apartment, he pushed those thoughts away. Today wasn’t the time to address this either. Severide had made him promise to be at Molly’s tonight, and he needed to shower before that. His time was limited, and it was something he strongly disliked. Especially when it came to his time with Sylvie. He had barely enough time to fix her cabinet.

Once he had knocked on her door, it didn’t take the paramedic more than three seconds to open it with a big smile on her face.

“Matt, hi,” she greeted him, opening her door widely for him to enter. She was barefoot, wearing a pair of black, tight yoga pants and a red t-shirt that was covered under a dark-gray, oversized cardigan. The look suited her as it made her look relaxed, and it instantly made him forget about the stress of the day and their situation. Just seeing her lifted a weight off his shoulders, and he finally felt like he could breathe again.

Feeling more at ease, he couldn’t help but return her smile as he stepped into her apartment. “I’m sorry I’m running this late. I lost track of time.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It gave me enough time to get my dinner into the oven,” she waved him off, closing the door behind him. “I made enough for two if you want.”

God, how was he supposed to say no to that offer? Dinner alone with Sylvie in her apartment sounded perfect right about now. But Severide had been adamant about Molly’s tonight, and Matt hated to let him down. He had gone through enough trouble with Kidd in the last few weeks, seeing him happy was a pleasant change.

Grimacing, he sighed, “That sounds tempting, but I think I should look at your cabinet first.” He placed his toolbox on the ground next to the door before taking off his shoes and jacket. “Severide wants me to come to Molly’s tonight, so my timeframe is a bit tighter than I expected.”

“Stella asked me to come too,” Sylvie said, putting her hands on her hips. “It’s the only reason I made this early dinner in the first place. That can’t be a coincidence. Are they fighting again?” Her forehead wrinkled as worry spread over her face.

Grabbing his toolbox, Matt huffed, “Judging from what I heard this morning, they are definitely not fighting.” A shudder ran through his body at the memory of their sounds earlier. There were certain aspects of his best friend’s life that Matt would rather not witness, and his sex life was one of those.

“You look uncomfortable,” Sylvie hummed as the corners of her mouth tugged upward in amusement. “I get it though. Stella can be a little too revealing about what she and Severide do behind closed doors. I’m happy she’s happy but I have to work with him, and I feel like I know too much.” It was Sylvie’s turn to shudder, and she pulled her oversized cardigan tighter around her body.

“Not only behind closed doors,” Matt mumbled, recalling what he had walked in on two days ago in their kitchen.

“OK, no. Let’s stop talking about this,” Sylvie prevented him from elaborating, grabbing his arm and pulling him into her kitchen. “We should focus on the cabinet.”

Matt chuckled as he stumbled after her into the kitchen. She let go of his arm far too quickly, and he tried not to miss her touch, but he did. Her hand had felt wonderful on his arm. It wasn’t familiar yet, but her warmth had soaked through his old button-down, making his skin tingle.

“Well, here it is.”

He looked up to see Sylvie standing at the far end of her kitchen counter, slowly moving the last cabinet door back and forth.

“I think it might have just come loose and needs to be readjusted, but I don’t have a Torx screwdriver so I couldn’t check it out myself,” Sylvie explained.

Matt tilted his head to the side, mustering her as she stood in front of the cabinet. She was standing on her tiptoes, leaning against the counter with her hips to inspect the problem. Her eyes were glued to the hinges of the cabinet, her brows slightly wrinkled in concentration.

There was just something so appealing about her in that moment that made his heart stop and his breath caught in his lungs. The desire to grab her and kiss her senseless flooded him. Especially knowing that it was what she wanted too. His heart screamed at him to just do it, but his brain was better prepared this time, toning down his desire.

They needed to talk first and then kiss. Otherwise, they might just have a repeat of the first time they kissed, and that was out of question.

When he didn’t immediately answer, Sylvie turned around, her eyes meeting his. 

“What?” She raised one of her eyebrows. “I grew up on a farm. They were lots of things that needed fixing. I know my way around a toolbox.” Lifting her chin, she leveled him with a pointed look. “Do you want me to fix it myself or do you wanna take a look?”

“I’ll do it,” he chuckled amused as her challenge snapped him out of his wonder for her. “And I have not forgotten how you welded Cruz’s slamigan. I just needed a quick reminder.”

Crossing the distance between them, he placed his toolbox on one of the chairs of her dining table, which stood right next to the counter. Resting a hand on her hip, he gave her a gentle push to step aside.

The paramedic made space for him, moving to sit on top of her dining table with her feet resting on the chair next to his toolbox. He briefly glanced at her to see her looking at him expectantly before focusing back on the cabinet door.

Opening and closing it a few times, he waggled it carefully. “You might be right. I’m gonna take it off to tighten the hinges, and then I’ll readjust it,” he agreed with her assessment. “You wanna hand me that Torx screwdriver?”

When he looked back at her, a beaming smile covered her face, and she reached out to open his toolbox to find it. Within a few seconds, she had pulled it out, extending her arm towards him. “Got it.”

He smirked at her enthusiasm, taking the screwdriver from her. “Maybe I should make you help me with one of my construction jobs,” he joked, pushing the cabinet door wide open. “I asked Tony and Capp to help next week, but I feel like you might give them a run for their money.”

“You know I love a good renovation. What are you working on at the moment?” She asked, and he could hear the excitement in her voice.

It was tempting to glance at her again, but he kept his eyes on the cabinet in front of him. Loosening the first screw, he replied, “It’s a basement remodel for a family of four who is expecting number 5.”

“That sounds exciting.”

“It’s a time-consuming project, and they don’t have time,” he sighed as he dropped the loosened screw onto the counter in front of him before going for the next one. “Normally, I wouldn’t have taken them on considering the time window they gave me, but they couldn’t find anyone else.”

“So, you took the job knowing that it would cause you stress, but you didn’t wanna put them out,” Sylvie finished for him matter-of-factly. “You’re a good guy, Matt Casey.”

He shifted on his feet, puffing out some air. “Now I just have to finish it on time, which seems to be impossible.” He placed the second screw on the counter before starting to loosen the third one as he grumbled, “There’s always something. This morning my appointment with Chaplain Sanders ran late, and it cost me an hour.”

Sylvie kept quiet, but after a beat had passed, she asked silently, “How’s that going?” Stopping again, she cleared her throat hesitantly, clarifying, “Your appointments with Chaplain Sanders.”

Matt stopped in his movements, lowering his hand with the screwdriver while keeping a firm hold on the cabinet door. His heart was hammering against his chest as he glanced around the door towards Sylvie.

Her legs were bouncing on the chair, her hands placed under her thighs. She briefly glanced up to him, pulling her lips between her teeth, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m not trying to pry or make you uncomfortable,” she added as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

His brows furrowed. “No, it’s fine. I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to hear about it.”

She had told him she couldn’t be the one that helped him figure out his feelings and get his life back on track, and he had respected that. Truthfully, he hadn’t talked to anyone about his chats with Chaplain Sanders. Not even Severide.

It felt monumental, and Matt realized that this might be the opening he had been waiting for. Even if the place and time seemed less than perfect. He had certainly not imagined having their talk with him in dusty old clothes while he fixed her cabinet. It was honestly the exact opposite from what he had imagined.

Taking a deep breath, he stopped his train of thought. He was pressuring himself again, and that wouldn’t help at all. He was a grown-ass man for fuck’s sake. It was a simple question, albeit a bit loaded, but he could answer it. It didn’t necessarily entail that they would also talk about their relationship. He could just start and see where the conversation would lead them.

When Matt focused on Sylvie again, he found her eyes flicking across the room as she played with the wristband of her watch. She was just as nervous as he was, and it calmed him down a bit more.

Turning his gaze back onto the cabinet in front of him, he placed the screwdriver onto the third screw again. Maybe it would be easier to talk with her about all of this when he had something to do with his hands.

“It’s been good,” he started as he turned the tool in his hands. “I’m… He’s helped me see some things differently about my… my past relationships.”

The screw sprang free, and Matt grabbed it carefully and placed it onto the counter with the others. Peeking over to Sylvie, he saw her gaze averted onto her hands now. Her hair was falling down the sides of her face, covering most of it from him. It made it impossible to gauge her reaction to his words, so he turned to loosen the fourth and last screw of the cabinet.

“I’ve always blamed myself for not trying hard enough. For giving up so easily when things got rough. I kept asking myself what I did wrong.” Biting the inside of his cheek, he blew out some air. “Talking to Sanders made me realize that I did try. I gave it my best, but a relationship consists of two people, and it can only work when both of them are trying.”

With his attention divided, the last screw slipped off his screwdriver once it was loose, falling onto the counter with a soft ping. Keeping one hand on the unfastened door, Matt reached out to slide the tiny metal piece towards the other three, lining them up next to each other, sorted by their size. First the two bigger ones, and then the two smaller ones.

Keeping his eyes on his handiwork on the counter, Matt continued in a soft voice, “Hallie did try, but we still had problems because she wasn’t honest with me about what she wanted from our life.” His brows furrowed, and he found himself separating the two smaller screws from the bigger ones on the counter. “With Gabby, there was no communication at all. She left me out of a lot of important decisions that concerned our life together, and I went along with it for a long time.” He shook his head, lifting his eyes to the cabinet door as he grabbed onto it with both hands. “Until I didn’t.”

Giving the door a sharp tug, he pulled the hinges out of the clasps. The loud screeching sounded through the silent apartment, and out of the corner of his eyes, Matt saw Sylvie flinch at the loud noise in her spot on the table.

Placing the door onto the ground, he braced his hands against the counter. “Looking back at these two relationships showed me what I don’t want, but I still wouldn’t want to erase them from my life. They are a part of me, and they shaped me into the person I am now, but I’m not going backward again.”

“And what  _ do _ you want?” Sylvie asked in a barely audible voice.

He kept his gaze on the counter, swallowing hard. “I want a partner. An equal. Someone who values my opinion and doesn’t run off when things get hard. Someone who strives for the same things in life and wants to fight for them together.” Sucking in some air, he straightened, and his hands ran down the front of his shirt. “It sounds like a lot when I say it out loud.”

“It really doesn’t,” Sylvie countered in a soft voice, and his gaze flicked to her.

When their eyes locked, it almost knocked him off his feet. The emotions in her eyes were paralyzing him, making his heart skip several beats inside of his chest. Apart from the deep understanding, her eyes were filled with love.

“You deserve someone who can be all of that for you, Matt,” she assured him, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear. “And you shouldn’t settle for anything less.”

He hastily wet his lips as he felt his mouth go dry. This was it. He could just say those three little words that would push them across the finish line, but the second he opened his mouth, the oven beeped.

Biting his tongue, he took a deep breath as his eyes cast down onto his hands. This was the universe's way of reminding him that this wasn’t the right moment, and it sucked. He had built up all this courage just to get interrupted.

After three short beeps, the beeping stopped, and when Matt looked up to Sylvie, he found her biting her lip. She looked a little bumped too, but then she slid off the table and walked over to him, halting next to him. Her hand reached out to his upper arm, and she rubbed it gently over it as she said, “Thank you for sharing this with me, Matt. It means a lot.”

God, that woman knew exactly how to make him feel better. His frustration evaporated instantly, and when her fingers slipped down his arm, he caught her hand in his, wrapping his fingers around hers.

Their eyes met once more, and a smile tugged at his lips. He tilted his head to the side as his thumb brushed over the back of her hand. “Thank you for listening, Sylvie.”

A matching smile spread over her face, and her eyes sparkled as she squeezed his hand. “Anytime.”

Suddenly, the interruption didn’t seem too bad anymore because while their talk might have not ended with a love confession, it still stirred them into the right direction. He had been honest with his feelings and his past, and Sylvie had not run away from him.

He could be patient for a few more days until they found the time to clear up the rest of the misunderstandings between them. Their moment was coming, and Matt knew it would be worth it. 

* * *

One of the perks of Sylvie’s new apartment was the walking distance to Molly’s. It was just five blocks away, and since her new neighborhood was very family friendly and calm, Sylvie always felt safe to walk the short distance at night. However, it also made her late most of the time because she underestimated the time she would need to walk to the bar.

It wasn’t any different today, and by the time she entered Molly’s, she was a little out of breath after speed-walking most of the way. Glancing around the room, she spotted Stella, Severide, and Matt sitting at a table in the back, and a smile spread over her face. Stella’s invitation had sounded more like a girl talk situation, but spending time with all three of them sounded even better.

Taking a deep breath to acclimate herself, Sylvie set her path towards her friends. Matt’s eyes found her the second she started moving, and a big smile covered his face. He lifted his hand in greeting, getting up from his chair.

Her belly fluttered at the sight of him, and she slowed down a bit to take him in. He was wearing a light blue button-down that made his eyes shine a bit more than usual, and together with his dark-blue jeans, he looked more handsome than ever.

Not that he hadn’t looked handsome earlier in his old work clothes. She hadn’t minded the sawdust in his hair or the musky smell that had rolled off him. It had brought images to her mind that would make her blush deeply if she gave them any room to unfold. Images that clocked her brain too often these days. Sometimes even at work. That man looked hot in about anything he put on. Even in his turnout gear.

Shaking her head once, she banned those images out of her head. They were at Molly’s with their friends, and it was wildly inappropriate. This was not the time.

She plastered a smile onto her face as she reached their table, “Hey, guys. I’m sorry I’m late. I forgot the time.”

“Oh, don’t worry. We just got here a few minutes ago,” Matt waved her off, pointing her towards the chair by the wall. “Can I get you something to drink? Rosé?” He shifted in his spot in front of the table, rubbing his hands down his sides.

Sylvie looked at him amused as she nodded her head. “Yes, please. That’d be great.”

“Got it. I’ll be right back,” Matt said, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze before he walked past her towards the bar. He almost looked like a man on a mission.

Sylvie’s eyes followed him for a moment before she shrugged off her jacket and shifted her gaze towards her best friend. Stella was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, her arms crossed in front of her body. It was her ‘no jokes’ pose that Sylvie knew all too well.

“You’ve got that man eating out of the palm of your hand,” Stella smirked as she pursed her lips. “You two need to get your act together. It’s  _ exhausting _ to watch.” The firefighter leaned back in her chair, throwing her head into her neck as she shook her head.

“Stella!” Sylvie exclaimed as her eyes darted towards Severide who was sitting sideways on his chair with his back leaning against the wall. He was looking at his girlfriend with a small smile on his face, his gaze not wavering from her.

The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes, patting her boyfriend’s leg affectionately. “They might both be emotionally stunted, but he’s agreeing with me on this one. Casey needs to finally make a move. I don’t understand why this guy is taking so long.”

“Stella, stop it,” Sylvie warned her as she moved to the free chair by the wall, sitting down opposite of Severide. “We’re not talking about this anymore.”

“Give the guy some credit. He’s been putting in a lot of work these last couple of weeks,” Severide threw in, poking his pointer into Stella’s shoulder. “He’s gonna get it right.”

Stella leveled her boyfriend with a pointed look, but before she could say anything, Sylvie interfered, “Guys, stop. Matt’s gonna be back any second, and I’d appreciated it if we could drop the topic of our relationship by then. The last thing we need is someone meddling. We got it under control.”

Stella’s head wiped towards her, and she slowly closed her mouth, her eyes narrowing. Maybe those last few words were a bit too much, because now her friend was giving her a different kind of look. One that told her they’d have a serious conversation with lots of questions sometime tonight.

Luckily for Sylvie, Matt chose that moment to come back to their table, placing a glass of rosé in front of her. When he sat down next to her, she could have sworn he scooted his chair a bit closer to hers, but maybe that was just her imagination.

“Thanks, Matt,” she said to him in a soft voice, their eyes meeting.

The firefighter gave her a small nod, while his lips tugged upwards. When he leaned back in his chair, he threw his left arm over the back of hers, resting his arm on top of it. It seemed like an absentminded move as he turned towards Severide in the next second, but it wasn’t one for her.

The two men fell into an easy conversation about the Blackhawks, but Sylvie’s head started to spin. If she leaned back now, his hand would be on her back and that sounded perfect. During the last few weeks, she had soaked up every single touch, even if it was just a bump of their shoulders, relishing them for as long as they lasted. And they never lasted more than a few seconds.

This one, however, had the potential to be more than just a squeeze to her hand or shoulder. This one would create another level of intimacy between them. Casual intimacy. Something they hadn’t shared before, but nonetheless something that excited her. It would bring them another step closer to the line they were once again toying.

Grabbing her glass, she took a small sip from her wine before placing it back onto the table. Concentrating on taking steady breaths, she scooted back in her chair until her back hit the backrest. The moment she relaxed into it, Matt’s fingers skimmed over her shoulder blade, creating a tingling sensation.

Against her better judgment, her breath caught in her throat, and she peeked over to him, just to find him completely relaxed in his seat as he chatted with Severide. His thumb rubbed circles into her sweater, and it slowly soothed her nerves. He wanted this just as much as she did. They were on the same page.

With her pulse calming down again, Sylvie shifted her gaze over to her best friend, meeting her eyes. Stella still looked at her with interest, her chin propped up onto her left hand, her fingers tapping against her cheek. A smirk covered her face, telling Sylvie her friend was aware of Matt’s hand on her back. At first, Sylvie blushed and quickly averted her gaze, but when something sparkled in her line of sight, her head flew up again, landing on Stella’s left hand on her cheek.

Sylvie’s eyes widened as she spotted the platinum ring with a diamond on it that grazed her friend’s ring finger, and her hand flew to Matt’s thigh, landing on it with a hard slap. It instantly stopped his conversation with Severide, his head turning towards her.

“You OK?” He asked in concern, his hand landing fully on her back.

Sylvie could barely register his words, her eyes stuck on Stella’s hand. Clawing her fingers into Matt’s leg, she spluttered, “Stella, what is that on your hand?”

The dark-haired woman smirked, lifting her hand in front of her, putting the ring onto full display. “Oh, you mean that? Kelly gave it to me this afternoon.”

“You’re better not be kidding, Stella Kidd!” Sylvie exclaimed loudly, her gaze bouncing between the two people sitting opposite of her.

Just then Severide grabbed Stella’s hand in his and guided it to his mouth to press a kiss to the back of it while looking at her with love in his eyes. “This one agreed to spend the rest of her life with me earlier today. I’m not sure if she knows what she signed up for, but we’ll see.”

Stella chuckled softly, leaning over to him to press a tender kiss to his lips. “I’m pretty sure I do know. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have said yes.”

Sylvie gasped, her eyes flying to Matt next to her. He was smiling at their friends, watching them with a knowing look in his eyes.

“Did you know about this?” Sylvie questioned him surprised, turning in her chair so that she was facing him.

Matt pursed his lips as he shrugged. “I knew Sev was gonna propose, but last time we talked about it, he wanted to do it after the lieutenant’s test.” He threw his friend a quick sideways glance, before focusing back on Sylvie.

“You knew, and you didn’t tell me?” Sylvie blurted out, her hand repeatedly hitting his thigh. “Matt Casey, I can’t believe you kept that from me!”

A laugh burst out of his throat, and he caught her hand in his, stopping her assault on his thigh. “Sylvie, you’re really bad with secrets. Besides, I only found out about their engagement right before we came to Molly’s too.” The hand on her back slowly ran down her arm until he had grabbed her hand with both of his.

He was giving her that look again. The one where she’d believe every single word he said to her, and deep down she knew he was right. She couldn’t keep a secret to save her life, and if she had blurted it out to her friend, it would have ruined the surprise for Stella.

Huffing softly, she narrowed her eyes at Matt, pouting, “You’re still buying my drinks tonight.”

Another throaty laugh left his lips, and he tilted his head to the side, giving her an agreeing nod. “With pleasure.”

With a shake of her head, she jumped off her chair, giving Matt’s hand one last squeeze before pulling back and walking around the table to Stella and Severide.

“I’m so happy for you guys. Congratulations,” she addressed both of them as she pulled Stella into a hug. “I need all the details, Stella. I can’t believe you’re getting married!”

“Girl, I thought you’d never notice the ring. I considered slapping my hand onto the table in front of you right before you finally looked at me,” Stella whispered into her ear as they hugged. “And if you and the captain haven’t figured your shit out by the time I’m walking down the aisle, I’m gonna smash your heads together!”

Pulling back, Sylvie rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Stella. I’m pretty sure we’ll be getting there a lot sooner than that.”

Stella held onto her arms a moment longer, pulling her brows together. “Now you owe me an explanation. Can’t leave me hanging now, Brett.”

Sylvie scrunched up her nose innocently, before pulling away from her friend with a wink. Without giving her an answer, she moved to Severide behind them. Pushing herself onto her tiptoes, she enveloped him in a hug.

The man embraced her tightly too, giving Sylvie enough time to mumble a quick warning into his ear. “You better be good to her. No more dumb decision making.”

Severide chuckled, patting her back warmly. “I might say the same thing to you soon.”

Loosening their hug, Sylvie glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not the one who makes dumb decisions, but I still got him.”

A lopsided grin covered the lieutenant’s face, and he nodded his head discreetly. “Good.”

After their short exchange, Sylvie pulled back and made her way back into her seat next to Matt. Stella and Severide left their table to get them a round of shots to celebrate, and a few seconds later, Sylvie could hear Herrmann yelling his congratulations through the bar.

“That was one way of announcing their engagement,” Sylvie hummed before taking a sip from her wine. “I did not expect that tonight.”

Matt was still watching their friends as they got hugged by Herrmann and some of their other friends from work. The news was spreading around the bar fast at this point. Turning his bottle on the table, he agreed, “Me neither. Now I really gotta move out. I’ve crammed their space long enough.”

Her stomach fluttered at his words, and she scooted to the edge of her seat, resting her elbow on the table close to him. She was crowding his space a bit more than usual, something he must have felt, but he didn’t make a move to pull back.

“If you need any help, I might know someone who’s excellent with this stuff,” Sylvie offered, blinking up to him through her lashes. She lived for everything that involved renovations and apartment hunting.

Matt looked at her through the corner of his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips. “Really? You might need to introduce me to her. She sounds great.”

Sylvie gave his shoulder a gentle shove. “Don’t be mean, Matt Casey!”

Letting go of his beer bottle, he reclined in his chair and threw his arm back over hers. Instead of waiting for her to lean back this time, his fingers reached out to trail over her waist in a feather-light touch, making her shiver.

“Will you go full spreadsheet on me again if I let you help?” He asked as he turned his body towards her, meeting her eyes.

“Do you want me to go full spreadsheet on you again?” Holding his gaze, her eyes scanned over his face, her lips parting.

“I want to find a place that I can call home for the long haul. A place to put down roots. A house,” Matt confessed, his eyes never leaving hers. “I’m gonna be picky, and I’ll probably get frustrated.” He stopped to take a deep breath as he placed his other hand on her thigh, smoothing his thumb over her knee. “But if you’re down for the job, I would greatly appreciate your help and input. You and your spreadsheets might be the only thing that’ll keep me sane.”

Her heart hammered against her chest, and she laid her hand onto his forearm, brushing her thumb over his sweater in sync with his ministrations on her knee. “I like a good challenge. And finding you a home sounds like something that I’d liked to be a part of.”

Matt squeezed her knee, a happy smile covering his lips. “Then I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Feeling giddy, she returned his smile. “Me too.”


End file.
